Borley Church

The church (dedication unknown) is a small building of stone; the nave may date to the 11th century. Later renovations have resulted in the mainly perpendicular style of the mid-14th to 16th centuries, still visible in the chancel and the western tower.[3] The church as it now stands consists of chancel, nave, south porch and a crenellated western tower containing three bells, two of which were cast by Alfred Bowell of Ipswich in 1926, and one from 1574 cast by S II Tonni. They hang in their original oak frame with evidence a fourth bell may once have been present. There is a topiary walk leading to the porch, with bushes once shaped like Indian chess pieces. The path use to be flag stones, however as of 2017 a new brick, wheelchair friendly path has been installed with side lights.[3] It is designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building.[4] Grade I is the highest of the three grades of listing, granted to buildings that "are of exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important".[5]

Not long after 1545 the manor was granted to Sir Edward Waldegrave (knighted in 1553 at the coronation of Queen Mary, died in the Tower of London on 1 September 1561) by Henry VIII. After the death of Edward, he was admitted to Queen Mary's privy council and granted the manor of Navestock, where he moved the family seat.[6] In addition Waldegrave was Master of the Wardrobe for Queen Mary and her husband, Philip II of Spain.[7]

The chancel contains a monument to John Durham of Norfolk.[8] Several tombs of the Waldegrave family are found within the structure, including a monument 14 feet high, 9 feet long, and 5 feet wide,[9] with a cornice supported by six pillars of the Corinthian order, beneath which lie full-length marble figures of Sir Edward Waldegrave and his wife Lady Frances Waldegrave née Neville (died 1599). Both tombs bear a marginal inscription in Latin and a record of other alliances of this family. On the chancel's north wall is a devotional statue of Magdala Southcote, Walgrave's daughter, who died 8 September 1598 (Nikolaus Pevsner notes it, but calls it "not good"[3]).[7] The church contains memorials to two 19th-century rectors, John Philip Herringham and his son William Herringham. John Philip was a Pembroke graduate and one of the signees of a declaration protesting the Maynooth Grant in 1845;[10] William entered Peterhouse, Cambridge.[11]

The glebe was 10 acres (4.0 ha) in the mid-19th century; in both 1821 and 1831 the parish had 195 inhabitants.[7]

• Borley Church on Essex Churches

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