England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Easthorpe St Mary the Virgin

The Parish

The parish of Easthorpe lies in eastern Essex roughly 7 miles southwest of the county town of Cochester. Easthorpe sits a mile south of the A12 road which links Colchester with Chelmsford and onward to London. Easthorpe is a small crossroads settlement with a few properties gathered around that junction, to the northwest the parish is dominated by the grounds of Easthorpe Hall, an "H"-plan hall largely built in the 16th and 17th centuries. The estate dominated the parish resulting in deterred inbound migration such that no normal village was created. Like most Essex parishes arable farming dominated the local economy, a few small patches of woodland would have been coppiced for woodland products. Modern developments have turned the former turnpike of the A12 into a speedy modern dual-carriageway but Easthorpe lacks a direct connection keeping it peaceful and rural. Easthorpe is drained southwestwards by the infant Domsey Brook which soon reaches the Blackwater at Kelvedon, the latter heads to the sea at Maldon and reaches the North Sea through its extensive estuary. Easthorpe is sited at around 40 metres above the sea in generally flat terrain with little higher ground for some distance. Easthorpe parish was small, even for a county with many small parishes, it covered just 900 acres and supported a population of close to 150 parishioners. Domesday Easthorpe was equally small and rural, held by Count Eustace of Boulogne it could muster just 4 ploughs backed by small meadows and woodland patches

The Church

St Mary's church sits within the northwestern quadrant of the village's crossroads, adjacent to the grounds of the hall. Visitors report the church closed for worship in 2013 and re-purposed as a meeting and conference centre. St Mary has very early fabric, reused Roman bricks bring identified in the dressings, the main body of the church dates largely to the 12th century and is Norman Romanesque in style. Pevsner points out the upper western window as well as others on both northern and southern faces. It is clear from building scars that the early church carried an eastern apse but the 13th century saw the present chancel created in the Early English Gothic style as its replacement. The barge-boarded bell turret at the western end sits upon 15th century beams but Pevsner neglects to give it a date. Also of the 15th century is the church's southern porch. Easthorpe Road is of sufficient width to allow on-street parking outside the churchyard. Given the changed status visitors should enquire as to access. The churchyard is well wooded with only a restricted set of angles available for the photographer.