St Clement

The C19 S door incorporates some C15 voussoirs.

The late C15 or early C16 N chancel arcade, also restored in plaster, has two bays of unequal length, that to the E much lower and narrower, suggesting adaptation of older openings.

The late C15 or early C16 N aisle is plastered behind the rafters and has curved and moulded principals springing from carved corbels.

The door to the tower stair turret is late C15 or C16 and has studded battens.

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES The C15 font came from St Swithin, Norwich, replacing a C19 font, and is octagonal with carved lions and angels on the bowl and stem.

The mahogany chancel reredos is by Ernest Geldart of 1893 and has finely carved figures made in Belgium.

The wooden screen at the E end of the N aisle is 1919 by Nicholson as a war memorial, with reticulated tracery above dropped ogee arches, the names of the dead are inscribed along the lower register.

There is excellent stained and painted glass of the C18-C20.

There are a number of good monuments.

Brasses including figural brasses to Richard Haddok, d. 1453

his wife Christine, also his son John and his wife and children, and Richard Chester, Elder Brother of Trinity House, d. 1632 and his wife, Elizabeth.

Robert Salmon, d. 1641, Master of Trinity House and Sheriff of London, an alabaster and black marble memorial with a half figure holding a globe, side pilasters, cornice and achievement of arms, attributed to Thomas Stanton.

There are also a number of C17 and C18 floor slabs, many recording maritime connections.

HISTORY Leigh is mentioned in the Domesday book of 1086, but the church is not included, although this was not unusual for Essex and many churches existing at that time were omitted.

The first rector is recorded in the C13.

The whole church was rebuilt in the late C15 or early C16, reflecting the prosperity of the town at that date.

Most of the church, including the nave, N aisle and chapel, and W tower was rebuilt in the late C15 or early C16

the chancel may have been C14 and some evidence for an older structure, including a piscina and parts of a window, were discovered when the N chapel was refitted in the early C20.

The S porch and rood stair turret were added in the early C16.

The Thames pilots' Guild of the Holy Trinity and St Clement, late Trinity House, had close associations with the church, and many of the monuments record the inhabitants' connections with the sea.

All work done to the church in the C17 and C18, such as furnishings, was swept away in the C19 restorations, as was commonly done.

Nicholson also added the N vestries, and he refitted the E end of the N aisle as a WWI memorial chapel in 1919.

The S aisle was added to accommodate the growing population of the town, and the Lady Chapel of 1913 was a memorial to Edward King , Bishop of Lincoln, brother of the former Rector, Canon Walker King, and uncle of the then Rector, Canon Robert King Edward King, who held very High Church views for which he was prosecuted, was considered to be a saint by some, and although he was never canonised, a lesser feast in his honour is part of the Anglican calendar for March 8.

SOURCES RCHME Essex IV , 82-3 Buildings of England: Essex , 700-1 REASONS FOR DESIGNATION The church of St Clement, Leigh on Sea, Essex is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons: * Fine parish church of the late C15

early C16, sympathetically enlarged and restored in the later C19 and early C20. * The prominent W tower was long a landmark for shipping in the Thames Estuary. * Excellent monuments. * Very good stained glass of the C18-20 This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Register.