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Brightlingsea, Essex

Historical Description

Brightlingsea, a town and a parish in Essex. The town stands on the estuary of the Colne, opposite Mersea Island, and is connected with the G.E.R. by a branch line from Wivenhoe, 8 miles SE by S of Colchester, is a sub-port to Colchester and a member of the Cinque port of Sandwich, and has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Colchester. A fair is held on St Swithin's day or the Thursday before, and a large trade is carried on in the fishing of sprats and oysters. The parish comprises 2873 acres, of which 682 are tidal water and foreshore; population, 3920. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of St Albans; net yearly value, £223. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church, a building of rubble and flint chiefly in the Perpendicular style, has a fine tower nearly 100 feet high, serving as a sea-mark, and contains a number of brasses, chiefly of the Beriffe family. Besides a chapel of ease, erected in 1837, there are Congregational, Free Methodist, Wesleyan, and Swedenborgian chapels.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient CountyEssex 
Ecclesiastical parishBrightlingsea All Saints 
HundredTendring 
Poor Law unionLexden and Winstree 

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.


Churches

Church of England

All Saints (parish church)

The church of All Saints stands about a mile and a half north of the town, and is, in the words of Morant, "a lofty and stately structure" of rubble and flint, consisting of chancel, with north and south chapels and vestry, south porch, nave of five bays, aisles and a western tower of fine proportions, with large buttresses set angle-wise and decorated with 32 niches: it is finished with pinnacles, and has a height, including these, of over 100 feet, forming a conspicuous sea mark: the ringing chamber presents some curious features; in the belfry are frames for 5 or 6 bells, but only one of the ancient peal, dating from about A.D. 1450, now remains; there is also a small sanctus bell unhung: in 1889 a peal of 10 tubular bells was presented by M. Bayard Brown esq. an American gentleman visiting Brightlingsea in his steam yacht "Valfreyia:" the church is chiefly Perpendicular, but three of the five bays of the arcades dividing the nave from the aisles are Decorated, and there are also remains of the Early English, style, and one feature supposed to be either Early Norman or Saxon: the clerestory has disappeared, having, together with the original roof, fallen down in 1814: there are on the floor brasses with effigies, of which only one retains its inscription, but, with two exceptions, they can be identified as being the memorials of John Beriffe, ob. 1496, and his three wives; Mary Beriffe, ob. 1505; Margaret Beriffe, ob. 1514; John Beriffe, ob. 1521, and Mary and Alice, his wives; William Beriffe and Joan, his wife, ob. 1527; John Beriffe, ob. 1542, and William Beriffe, 1578; the two remaining brasses are those of two female figures, inserted in the room of two priests' brasses on a stepped and foliated bracket, c. 1400, but now imperfect; these effigies represent Dame Alice Beryffe, 1536, and Margaret, her daughter, and it is believed that the two earlier effigies of priests were appropriated, cut down and re-engraved on the reverse side, as they now appear; the inscriptions are missing: in the Lady Chapel is a curiously incised stone slab, once, probably, the covering of a tomb: in the chancel is an elaborate and costly monument to Nicholas Magens esq. who died in 1767: another peculiar feature of the church is the number of niches that remain in the walls and columns: one contains a small mutilated statue, supposed to be that of St. Nicholas: a series of small memorial tablets have been erected to parishioners lost at sea. This church was anciently rich in ecclesiastical ornaments, vestments &c. of which a catalogue is extant: the communion plate comprises two patens and two chalices of silver: the church was carefully restored in 1878, when an organ was also erected: the east window was filled with stained glass in 1881, in part as a memorial to the late Mrs. J. C. Barnard, of Great Dunmow, who died 6 June, 1881: the tower was restored in 1886, at the expense of F. C. Capel esq. of Wilmington, Kent, in memory of his father, the late J. B. Capel esq. of North Cray, Bexley. The church affords 450 sittings.

St. James

St. James's chapel-of-ease, in the middle of the town and erected in 1837, is a large and plain edifice of brick, with a western turret containing a clock, placed in 1887 by public subscription; there are sittings for 550 persons; considerable improvements were made in the interior in 1898, and a fine organ has since been erected.

Congregational

Congregational chapel

The Congregational chapel, with Sunday school, was erected in 1906 at a cost of £690.


Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Brightlingsea from the following:


Land and Property

The Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Essex is available to browse.

The Essex pages from the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 is online.


Maps

Online maps of Brightlingsea are available from a number of sites:


Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following newspapers covering Essex online:

DistrictTendring
CountyEssex
RegionEastern
CountryEngland
Postal districtCO7
Post TownColchester

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