St Laurence's Church, Blackmore facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Church of St Laurence, Blackmore |
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| 51°41′25″N 0°19′4″E / 51.69028°N 0.31778°E | |
| OS grid reference | TL 603 016 |
| Location | Blackmore, Essex |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Website | St Laurence, Blackmore |
| Architecture | |
| Heritage designation | Grade I |
| Designated | 20 February 1967 |
| Specifications | |
| Bells | 5 |
| Administration | |
| Deanery | Epping Forest and Ongar |
| Diocese | Diocese of Chelmsford |
St Laurence's Church is a really old and interesting church in the village of Blackmore, Essex, England. It used to be part of a priory, which was like a small monastery. One of the coolest things about it is its amazing wooden bell tower! This church is so important that it's a Grade I listed building, meaning it's protected because of its special history and architecture.
Contents
The Priory's Story
A priory is a type of religious house, often smaller than an abbey, where monks or nuns lived and prayed. St Laurence's Church started its life as part of Blackmore Priory.
How the Priory Began
The priory was officially allowed to be built by Richard de Belmeis II, who was the Bishop of London from 1155 to 1162. The oldest parts of the church building were constructed in the late 1100s.
When the Priory Closed
Blackmore Priory closed down in 1527. This happened because of Cardinal Wolsey, a powerful figure who wanted to make some changes to the church and use some of its money to fund schools. This closure was an early example of what later became known as the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Many smaller monasteries were closed around this time, often because they didn't have enough members to keep running properly.
After the priory closed, a man named John Smyth, who worked for the King, bought the land in 1540. The part of the church you see today, called the nave, was once part of the much larger priory church. The church used to stretch further to the east, but that section was taken down in the 1540s.
Changes to the Church Building
Over hundreds of years, the church building has seen some interesting changes.
Early Changes
Originally, it's thought that the priory church had a tall central part (the nave) with lower roofs over the side sections (the aisles). But in the late 1300s, one big roof was built to cover both the nave and the aisles. The special windows that stick out from the roof, called dormer windows, were added during the Tudor period. We don't know for sure if these windows were put in before or after the church was made shorter in the 1540s.
The Smyth family was very important in the village of Blackmore for many years, right up until 1721. Inside the church, in the south aisle, you can find a special tomb for Thomas Smyth (who passed away in 1594) and his wife Margaret. There are also flat stone slabs on the floor in the main part of the church and near the altar, marking the graves of other Smyth family members from the 1600s and 1700s.
Later Updates
Since the year 1600, the church hasn't had any major changes to its main structure. The porch on the north side was added in the 1800s. The church also had some restoration work done between 1895 and 1905 by an architect named Frederick Chancellor. During this time, the north arcade (a row of arches) was rebuilt, and the east end of the north aisle was also repaired.
The Amazing Bell Tower
You'll find many bell towers made of timber (wood) in this part of Essex. The way this tower was built is very similar to the church tower in a nearby village called Margaretting. This makes people think that the same architect might have designed both of them!
What's unusual about this tower is that it has three distinct levels or "stages." Inside the tower, there are five bells. Two of these bells were made by a bell founder named Miles Graye in 1648 and 1657.
Dating the Tower
In the 1960s, a man named Cecil Hewett, who knew a lot about medieval carpentry in Essex, used a method called radiocarbon dating to estimate the age of the bell tower. He thought it was built around 1480. Radiocarbon dating helps scientists figure out how old something is by looking at the carbon in it.
However, in 2004, Dr. Martin Bridge from the Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory took wood samples from the tower. He used a method called dendrochronology, which is like reading the rings of a tree to find its exact age. For three of the wood samples, he found that the trees were cut down between 1397 and 1400. This new information showed that the tower was actually built much earlier than people thought: in 1400 or within the next two years!
