Church Of St Mary The Virgin

Church of St. Mary the Virgin

This parish church in Gestingthorpe stands on the east side of the Street. It is a Grade I listed building of considerable architectural importance, with fabric dating from the 13th to 16th centuries.

The chancel is 13th century in origin. The nave, north vestry and south aisle are probably 14th century, though the south aisle was rebuilt in the 15th century. The nave clerestorey, south porch and west tower date to around 1500. Significant restoration took place in the late 19th century, when the south organ chamber was added, the south arcade of the nave was reconstructed, and the chancel arch and adjoining walls were rebuilt.

The building is constructed of flint rubble with some rendered walls. Dressings are of limestone and clunch. The west tower and south porch are of red brick with some diapering to the tower. Roofs are of red plain tile or lead.

The chancel contains an early 14th-century east window of five trefoiled lights with arches placed on top of the apexes to form a net pattern, set in a two-centred head with moulded label. The north wall has three windows: the eastern a blocked 13th-century lancet; the central window of around 1340 with two trefoiled lights and tracery under a two-centred head with moulded label; and a western 14th or 15th-century window, partly blocked and altered with a wooden frame and segmental head inscribed 1678. The south wall has two windows similar to the central north wall window, much restored. Two doorways with chamfered jambs and two centre arches date probably to the late 14th century. The chancel arch is late 19th century, when stairs to the rood loft were discovered and bricked up. A 14th-century sedilia with moulded jambs and two-centred heads survives in three bays, restored. An early 14th-century piscina has moulded jambs, a cinquefoiled head and trefoil drain. A late 15th-century rood screen was rebuilt in 1907 with incorporated fragments of the original 15th-century screen. The chancel contains a monument to John Sparrow (1626) with a kneeling alabaster effigy. A seven-cant roof is present, and a 19th-century organ chamber was added to the south wall. The north vestry, probably partly 14th century, is plastered with red brick crenellations; its north wall has two-light windows and a two-centred arched west door, both 19th-century restorations.

The nave contains one of the finest double hammer-beam roofs in Essex, dated 1489 by inscription. The beams are moulded throughout with carved tracery and bosses. They are inscribed "Peter Barnard and Marget Hys Wyf" and "Thomas Loveda and Alys hys wyf" on the north and south sides respectively. The north wall has three lower-range windows: the eastern a 19th-century circular window; the central a 15th-century three-light window with tracery in a four-centred head with face stops to the moulded label; and the western a window of around 1330 with two ogee lights and a quatrefoil in a two-centred head. The south arcade is early 14th-century in origin, reconstructed in the 19th century, of three bays with two-centred arches of two chamfered orders; the circular columns and respond are 19th-century replacements. The clerestorey has a north window of the 16th century with two four-centred lights in a square head, and three 19th-century two-light south windows.

The south aisle has 16th-century red brick crenellations with a moulded band beneath. The lean-to roof dates to around 1500 and consists of three double bays with moulded beams throughout; the principals have arched braces and carved spandrels. A 19th-century arch opens to the east wall. Two 15th-century windows in the south wall have three cinquefoiled ogee lights with tracery in four-centred heads. The south doorway is 15th-century with jambs and a two-centred arch of two moulded orders. The south door has linenfold planks lacking terminals, framed on two durns, three stiles and five dovetailed ledges.

The font is 15th-century and octagonal. Four sides are carved with Evangelist symbols (man, lion, ox and eagle); one side is blank, the rest displaying roses or shields. It has a traceried stem and moulded base. An early 15th-century piscina in the south aisle has a moulded jamb, cinquefoiled head and sexfoil drain.

Glass in the western window of the west wall contains small figures of the Madonna and Child. The nave contains two 19th-century stained glass windows in memory of William Oates F.R.G.S. (died 3 April 1896 at Funchal, Madeira) and Francis Oates F.R.G.S. (died 5 February 1875 on Shansi River, Inner South Africa). A brass wall plate nearby reads "In memory of a very gallant gentleman Lawrence Edward Grace Oates who died 17 March 1912 on Scott's Antarctic Expedition. Erected by his brother officers A.D. 1913." Paintings probably dating to around 1700 are present on the west wall, depicting Moses and Aaron on canvas.

The south porch is late 15th or early 16th-century, built of red brick. Its east and west walls have one-light windows, four-centred and segmental pointed respectively. The outer entrance has a two-centred arch. A contemporary roof of king-post construction features eight coupled rafters and cambered tie beams. A recess is present in the south-east corner, and a stoup in the east wall.

The west tower dates to around 1500, and William Carter bequeathed forty shillings towards its cost in 1498. The tower is of four stages, crenellated with corner spires. A corbel-table of trefoiled arches runs around it; to the south-east is a full-height stair turret with five rectangular lights. Angled buttresses are present. Bell-openings consist of three lights with one transom and tracery above under segmental pointed heads. The restored west window has three four-centred lights with mullions and tracery under a four-centred head. The north and south walls have loops with segmental pointed heads. The west doorway has jambs and a four-centred arch of four chamfered orders with a moulded label. A two-centred tower arch of four orders is present; the outer two orders are square and continuous, the inner chamfered and resting on a semi-octagonal attached shaft. The church contains six bells: four by Miles Gray of Colchester, dated 1658–59, and two from Bury St. Edmunds re-cast in 1901. The original west door is secured only by an oak bar.

Three tombstones have been moved from the chancel to the churchyard, inscribed to John Ellison (1691) and two others which contained brasses. Two large dug-out chests with iron bars and many locks survive, one at the foot of the tower and the other in the ringing chamber.