Colchester Archaeological Trust

CAT Report 400: summary

A watching brief at St Andrew's Church, Marks Tey, Essex: November-December 2006
by Brooks, H; Orr, K (with contributions from Curl, J)

Date report completed: 01/03/2007
Location: Marks Tey, Essex
Map reference(s):
File size: 1,116kb kb
Project type: Watching brief
Significance of the results: *
Keywords: medieval and later buildings, church, septaria, Purbeck marble, medieval window tracery, vault, tomb slab, animal bone, human bone

Summary. A watching brief on the lowering of the floor levels exposed a stub of septaria wall line under the present chancel arch. This may mark the position of an earlier east end, or an earlier and narrower chancel arch. Internally, the lowering of the floor showed no internal offset or foundation, but an external offset of approximately 0.2m was exposed on either side of the south doorway (in the porch). Modern work in the nave and chancel did not generally intrude deep enough to breach a layer of mortar and brick dust found under the hollows of the old floor, but four vaults were exposed in the chancel. These are almost certainly to be associated with four tomb slabs, one to Peter Wright and the others to members of the Bree family, which had recently been stored in the west tower. A number of objects were found under the old church floorboards. One was a very fine Purbeck marble tomb slab with the indent of a missing brass. Mr. Martin Stuchfield has identified this as the missing slab of Robert de Teye and wife Katherine (dated 1360), whose missing inscription is recorded by Morant (1748, 202). A second was a blank piece of Purbeck marble which may or may not have been a tomb slab. The remainder were a number of pieces of window tracery, mostly derived from the replacement or repair of windows in the 19th century. However, three pieces without glazing grooves may be part of a missing stone rood screen. The de Teye tomb cover is to be reset in the new church floor, and a sample of the tracery pieces will be kept in the church.