CHURCH.
In the earlier 12th century the
church was split into moieties held by the lords
of Boxted Hall and Rivers Hall respectively.
Hugh of Boxted gave his share of the church to
St. John's abbey, Colchester, between 1163 and
1181, and Robert of Horkesley and Beatrice his
wife gave theirs to Little Horkesley priory
before 1135. Both religious houses had apparently appropriated their shares by 1254 when
there was a vicarage. In 1237 St. John's abbey
gave its share of the advowson to the bishop of
London and c. 1250 Little Horkesley priory
exchanged its half with the bishop, who thus
became sole patron. (fn. 94) The advowson of the vicarage has remained in the hands of the diocesan
bishop, (fn. 95) passing to the bishop of Rochester in
1846, to the bishop of St. Albans in 1877, and
to the bishop of Chelmsford in 1914. (fn. 96) The
bishops presented regularly, except during episcopal vacancies when the crown presented as in
1361, 1405, and 1596. (fn. 97) In 1975 the benefice was
combined with Langham. (fn. 98)
The church, presumably the rectory, was
worth 5 marks and the vicarage 4 marks in
1254, (fn. 99) and the church was valued at £7 6s. 8d.
in 1291. (fn. 1) In 1535 the vicarage was valued at £7
13s. 8d. (fn. 2)
In 1610 the impropriate rectory was said to
have stripped the vicar 'stark naked', without
glebe, wood, hay, or corn. (fn. 3) That may have been
an exaggeration, for by 1650 the vicarage glebe
was worth £4 and the tithes £41, (fn. 4) and in 1661
the living was said to be worth £60. (fn. 5) In 1720
the vicarage was augmented with £100 from
Bishop John Robinson of London and £100
from Queen Anne's Bounty, and an estate of
c. 27 a. at Pebmarsh was purchased. (fn. 6) In 1723
and 1810 three or four small farms claimed to
be tithe-free. (fn. 7) In 1835 the vicarage was valued
at £190 a year. (fn. 8) In 1838 the tithes were commuted for a rent charge of £225, (fn. 9) which
remained almost the sole income of the living in
1851 and 1887. (fn. 10)
The vicarial glebe in Boxted increased from
only 1 a. with 1½ a. of garden and orchard in
1610, (fn. 11) to c. 4 a. including an allotment on
Boxted heath in 1838. (fn. 12) In 1887 there was 1½ a.
of garden, 1 a. glebe opposite the vicarage, and
2 a. on Straight Road let as allotments, as well
as the Pebmarsh farm, (fn. 13) which was sold in
1920. (fn. 14)
There was a vicarage house in 1610, described
as 'rough-cast and tiled' in 1810. (fn. 15) It was so neglected by 1836 that it was demolished and
replaced by a neo-classical brick house of two
storeys and three bays. (fn. 16) It was sold after the
union of the benefice with Langham in 1975. (fn. 17)
Robert, priest of Boxted, was recorded
c. 1180. (fn. 18) Henry, vicar in 1332, may have been
the Henry Ray who resigned in 1357, and vicars
are known from that date onward. (fn. 19) In 1524-5
there was a parish guild. (fn. 20) The 'gild' recorded
in 1598 may have been a guildhall. (fn. 21)
Two Boxted Lollards, one the holy water
clerk, abjured in 1505 and two other Lollards
were arrested in 1531. (fn. 22) From 1528 heretics,
probably Lollards, from Colchester and Steeple
Bumpstead met at a Boxted house whose owners
were arrested in 1534. (fn. 23)
In 1555 and c. 1560 vicars were deprived, presumably for Protestantism and Catholicism
respectively. (fn. 24) Philip Silgate or Gilgate (vicar
1578-96), was reported as an unpreaching minister in 1584 and c. 1593. In 1590 the churchwardens accused him of brawling and slandering, of not wearing a surplice nor making the
sign of the cross, and of procuring the parson of
Langham to preach without licence. (fn. 25)
George Phillips, a nonconformist divine later
prominent in Massachusetts, was curate of
Boxted c. 1617. (fn. 26) Nathaniel Kirkland, vicar in
1621 and 1633, failed to keep the parish registers
and in 1633 the church lacked a surplice, pulpit,
and communion table. (fn. 27) John Hubbert, vicar
1644-c. 1651, was a puritan who signed the
Testimony in 1648 and the Watchword in
1649. (fn. 28) By 1655 the vicar was Nathaniel Carr
who was perhaps the 'Mr. Lax' ejected in 1662;
he was still living in the parish in 1664. (fn. 29) His
successor was the controversial pamphleteer
Edmund Hickeringill, whose incumbency was
opposed by many parishioners led by the puritan
John Maidstone. Hickeringill resigned in 1664,
but he lived in the parish until his death in
1708. (fn. 30)
Henry Goodrick, resident vicar 1723-47, held
regular services on Sundays and communion
three times a year. (fn. 31) Robert Ingram, a noted
Protestant divine, vicar of Wormingford from
1760, was also vicar of Boxted from 1768 until
his death in 1804. (fn. 32) In 1770 he lived at
Wormingford and Boxted church was served by
a curate who lived in Dedham. Communion was
held six times a year. (fn. 33) C. Norman (d. 1868), the
popular 'low church' vicar from 1835, was
instrumental in the creation of the Church
school. It was said that over two thirds of the
families belonged to the church in 1841 when
the average number of communicants was
c. 50. (fn. 34) In 1851 church attendance was 146 at
the morning service and 210 in the afternoon,
although the vicar claimed that it was below
average due to influenza. (fn. 35)
The church known as ST. PETER since
1848, (fn. 36) formerly St. Mary, (fn. 37) has a chancel, nave
with north and south aisles, south porch, and
west tower. Built primarily of rubble with puddingstone and Roman brick, the nave, chancel
arch, and tower are early 12th-century. The out
lines of the original high windows remain above
the north arcade. The aisles were probably
added in the mid 14th century when the clerestory and the surviving crown-post nave roof
were made. About the same time the small west
window in the tower was replaced, and two windows were inserted in the east wall of the nave
above the chancel arch.
The chancel windows were probably renewed
in the late 1530s, after the dissolution of Little
Horkesley priory, when the chancel was in such
bad repair that the incumbent refused to hold
services there. Perhaps at the same time the
tower was repaired in brick with brick angle
buttresses. The timber-framed porch was added
after 1586. A timber dormer window in the
south aisle is dated 1604, and another in the
clerestory may be 18th-century, perhaps to light
a former south gallery. A west gallery on iron
columns was added in 1836 with a grant from
the Incorporated Society for the Enlargement
and Building of Churches and Chapels (later
The Incorporated Church Building Society). It
now accommodates the organ of the same date. (fn. 38)
Minor repairs were ordered in 1633 and
1705. (fn. 39) The church was restored c. 1870 by A.
W. Blomfield, who extended the north aisle to
form a vestry, refloored the chancel and tower,
and reseated the chancel, nave, and tower. (fn. 40) The
chancel was repaired in the 1930s, when the ceiling may have been replaced. The tower was
restored in the 1950s. (fn. 41)
In 1684 there was a silver cup engraved
Boxted on its foot, and a pewter flagon and
paten. The flagon and paten had been replaced
in silver by 1810. (fn. 42) In 1925 there was an unmarked cup, probably early-17th century, a
copy of that cup dated 1836, a paten dated 1782,
and two flagons dated 1778 and 1811. (fn. 43)
The surviving chest may be 17th-century. (fn. 44)
The font has a modern bowl, on an apparently
early 19th-century artificial stone stem.
Three bells were recorded in 1684 and 1845,
but only two by 1870. In 1909 they were (i)
Thomas Gardiner, Sudbury 1714 (ii) Thomas
Mears, London, 1812. (fn. 45)
Monuments include five chancel floorslabs to
17th-century members of the Maidstone family,
and a nave floorslab to Alexander Carr (d. 1681)
and John Marr (d. 1683), servants of the earl of
Oxford. (fn. 46) The arms of George III hang on the
north wall of the nave.
The churchyard was expanded in 1868 by the
addition of 36½ p. of land from Camping close. (fn. 47)