Church Of St Michael And All Angels

CHURCH OF ST MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS, ROXWELL

The Church of St Michael and All Angels is probably of 14th-century origin, with a bell turret added in the 15th or 16th century. The church was heavily restored in the 19th century. The north aisle, porch and vestry were added in 1854 by C R Ainslie. The chancel was restored by F Chancellor in 1872, with refurnishing in 1881 by E C Lee. The spire was rebuilt in 1891.

The building is constructed of flint rubble with stone dressings, tiled roofs, a timber porch and bell turret, and a shingled spire. The plan comprises a chancel with north vestry, nave with north aisle, northwest porch and bell turret over the west end of the nave.

The entire exterior was very heavily renewed in the 19th century. The chancel has low diagonal buttresses and a three-light east window with reticulated tracery. On the south side, the chancel features two two-light windows with Decorated style tracery and a chamfered door between them, together with a large gabled dormer containing a three-light timber window with ogee cusped lights and square leaded panes. The north vestry has a three-light transomed east window and a north door with shouldered head. The nave has set-back buttresses at the southwest corner and a tall west window with two transomed lights with ogee cusping and Perpendicular style tracery in the head. Three two-light windows with Decorated-style tracery are set in the south wall. The north aisle has a diagonal northeast buttress and smaller buttresses along the north wall, with aisle windows similar to those in the nave. The north porch is timber-framed on low stone walls, with cusped bargeboards and a two-leaf door with ornamental strap hinges. The bell turret stands over the west end of the nave with horizontal weather boarding and louvered bell openings.

Internally, the walls are plastered and painted. The 14th-century chancel arch has two chamfered orders, the inner on polygonal responds with moulded capitals and bases. A shouldered niche lies to the north of the chancel arch. The rere-arch of the chancel southeast window has been dropped to form a stone seat with shouldered ends, and the window sill above has brattished stone cresting. The 19th-century north arcade comprises four bays with hollow chamfered arches on polygonal piers with moulded capitals and bases. The base of the bell turret is late medieval with four corner posts with arched braces rising to tie beams. The chancel roof is of cross-braced collar type and may be medieval. The nave roof is probably also partly medieval, with braced collar beams and three rough tie beams. The 19th-century aisle roof has king posts and moulded tie beams.

The church contains a number of good monuments. A brass commemorates Thomas Young (died 1593), his son also Thomas (died 1596) and his daughter-in-law Parnell (died 1597). In the chancel are several monuments to members of the Barmston family, including Sir John Barmston (died 1654), Chief Justice to the King's Bench, and his son, also Sir John (died 1699), represented by a white marble draped tablet with a cartouche of arms and martial emblems, together with several floor slabs. Mary Barmston Byng (died 1744) is commemorated by a black marble obelisk with white marble bases and decoration including a cherub leaning on a draped bust. Another monument is to Maria Herlock (1821) by Charles Regnart. An alabaster and gilded tile wall plaque commemorates Thomas Rogers, vicar (died 1899). An unusual painted burial board records all burials in the churchyard since 1895.

The chancel east wall displays a late Victorian stone reredos with the lower part diapered and the upper part featuring symbols including the Evangelists, the pelican in her piety, and the Lamb of God. A painted and gilded altarpiece with angels flanking a nativity complements the scheme. The riddel posts are topped by statues, and both reredos and panelling have embattled cresting with vine scrolls. The altar and communion rails date from 1881. The floor contains 19th-century encaustic tiles. A 19th-century polygonal pulpit with tracery panels and attached shafts was designed for Great Waltham in 1862–3 by Chancellor and moved to Roxwell in 1894. A 19th-century polygonal font is carved with crocketted gables springing from head stops. A late 19th or early 20th-century Art Nouveau poor box features heavy, intertwined stems. At the east end of the north aisle stands the former 19th-century chancel screen, said to have been made up in 1886 from part of the former altar case of 1684 from Durham Cathedral, combining Gothic and Baroque motifs.

The church contains good 19th and 20th-century stained glass, including an east window of the Crucifixion by Clayton and Bell that incorporates some medieval glass. The north aisle west window is by Henry Holiday (1919–20) and the north aisle north window is by Lawrence Lee with Janet Christopherson (1976).

Roxwell Church was formerly a chapel belonging to the Hospital in Writtle, which in turn belonged to the Hospital of the Holy Ghost in Rome, founded by the Pope for English pilgrims to Rome. Writtle, with Roxwell and other possessions, was transferred to New College, Oxford in 1391. The Barmston family, who are commemorated by many memorials in the chancel, lived at Skreens, a medieval manor house that they rebuilt in the 18th century. The architects who worked on the various 19th-century restorations were all local men; Frederic Chancellor of Chelmsford and London was the best known and worked widely in Essex, London and elsewhere.