North Shoebury

St Mary the Virgin (locked no keyholder listed) is a pretty but run of the mill C13 church; having read Pevsner I suspect the interior is more interesting than the exterior but only at a pinch. I liked the setting though even if the churchyard was undergoing a majorr refurb.

ST MARY THE VIRGIN. Wide and rather low chancel of the early C13 with lancet windows. Also C13, but later, the S aisle, later demolished. The arcade piers and arches are still recognizable, octagonal piers with moulded capitals. In the nave N wall one window of c. 1300: Y-tracery, cusped. The W tower is in its lower parts also C13, see the W windows. Later, big diagonal buttresses were added and the top parts with a pyramid roof in two steps, the upper with broaches. - FONT. Square bowl on five supports. The sides undecorated, but on the top in the four corners fleurs-de-lis. - PLATE. Cup and Paten of 1568. - MONUMENT. Fragment of a coffin lid with an exceptionally richly adorned foliated cross and some letters; early C13.

NORTH SHOEBURY. A few scattered farms and cottages survive on the broad flat acres here, and a road to a gabled farmhouse leads past a dark pond at the edge of a small thicket, behind which stands a Norman tower. It has a wooden spire. The church itself is 13th century. It has fleur-de-lys on its ancient font, and oak leaves in autumn colours glowing in 14th century glass.

Flickr.