This church, dedicated to St Mary the Virgin in 1492 when the present building was begun, is not the first church to have been built upon this site. There has been a church in Dedham since at least 1322, when services were held in a smaller church on the site of the present South Aisle Chapel. The archway to the present Vicar’s vestry is thought to have been the entrance to that church.

Bumble-Bee

March 10, 2021

One of the great churches of northern Essex, St Mary's dominates the High Street of Dedham. The church as we see it today is primarily a 15th-century rebuilding of an earlier medieval church which existed at least as early as 1322.

That early church occupied the site of the current south aisle chapel, an indication of just how much smaller it was than the grand 15th-century building we see today! The door to the vestry is thought to have been the main entrance to the 14th-century church.

Work on a new church was begun in 1492 and completed in 1522. The walls are rubble and flint, so common in East Anglia. The tower is knapped flint, dressed with limestone. The striking west tower, finished in 1519, is totally self-supporting and features an unusual vaulted passage.

An unsubstantiated tradition is that Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, gave money for the tower to be built. Whoever paid for it, the tower is certainly striking; it stands 131 feet high and is visible for miles along the valley.

(britainexpress.com/counties/essex/churches/dedham.htm)

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Location: Dedham, Colchester, Essex, East Of England, England, United Kingdom

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