Copford, Essex Genealogy

England   Essex

Parish History
Copford St Michael and All Angels is an Ancient parish in Essex.

The diocese of Chelmsford was created in 1914, prior to this Essex parishes were in the jurisdiction of the Bishops of London until 1845 when they transferred to the diocese of Rochester. The diocese of Chelmsford has 474 parishes and 600 churches and is the second largest region in the church of England outside London.

Copford was originally a manor held by the Bishop of London's office. Upon the death of Edmund Bonner in 1569 (also buried here) the land briefly became property of The Crown until 1609 when it returned to private ownership once more. The parish church of St Michael is renowned for its 12th-century Norman wall paintings that are among the best in England. The church door has been found to have human skin attached, possibly as a gruesome remnant of the ancient punishment meted out to those who invaded the sanctity of the church.

The church, known as ST. MICHAEL AND ALL ANGELS' since 1880, earlier ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, stands immediately south of Copford Hall on the edge of the parish. The foundations of what appears to be an Anglo Saxon structure have been detected to the southeast of the church. The present church, which probably served as a chapel for the adjacent episcopal manor house, consists of an apse, chancel with vestry, nave with threebayed south aisle, south porch, and timber belfry with spire. The walls are rubble with substantial amounts of Roman and medieval brick. The apse, chancel, nave, and central bay of the aisle were built as a single structure c. 1120, and although heavily restored in the 19th century, the interior retains much of its original wall painting, giving a good impression of what the interior of a small church might have looked like in the first half of the twelfth century. The apse retains its 12th-century groin vault and possibly its original roof, but the stilted groin vault with heavy transverse arches in the chancel and nave has been removed. A blocked door in the second buttress on the north side of the nave may have led to a chamber over the vault. The 12th-century windows of the apse and the westernmost nave window have splayed Roman brick jambs and nook shafts with scallop capitals; there were similar windows on the south side of the chancel and nave, and in the west wall. The contemporary north nave door has two rollmoulded orders, with volute and scallop capitals on detached shafts; the north chancel door has one ashlar order with monolithic lintel and brickinfilled tympanum. The Roman brick outer order of the second bay of the arcade has imposts formed from the nave string course. It is likely that it was originally roundheaded and led into a small chapel contemporary with the nave. The south chapel was extended to form a short aisle when the eastern bay of the nave arcade was inserted c. 1200, blocking an older window. The church was substantially renovated in the late 13th or early 14th century: the nave and chancel vaults were replaced by a new trussed rafter roof with additional crown posts over the chancel bay; the west window was pro vided with Ytracery, and the two inner orders of the second bay of the nave arcade inserted and the head rebuilt pointed. In the late 14th or early 15th century the aisle was lengthened to the west with the insertion of the western bay of the arcade, which has one chamfered order. The aisle may also have been widened at that time; the porch was added, and the belfry, supported on a heavy frame at the west end of the nave, installed. The screen, which has a central doorway with a cinquefoil subcusped head and moulded posts and side bays of five lights with subcusped traceried ogee heads, is 15th-century; its cornice is a 19th- century restoration. An altar to St. Catherine recorded in 1526 perhaps stood in a chapel in the east bay of the aisle. By 1633, the church roof needed tiling in several places and the bellcot needed boarding. In 1768 the church was in good repair and the wooden bellcot had a shingled spire. Probably by that time the nave and chancel had been ceiled, the square north window installed, and the screen removed. In the early 19th century the screen was discovered in a local barn, and c. 1825-30 used to support a gallery at the west end of the nave lit by a new unsplayed window and two oculi in the upper part of the west wall. Brick buttresses, rebuilt in stone later in the 19th century, may also have been added at that time. By 1859 the vestry was very poor, the belfry could be ascended by ladder only, and the porch was very old. In 1862 there was accommodation for 180 people. During restorations financed by the rector in the 1860s and 1870s, the 15th-century south porch was destroyed by a Colchester builder, who, having taken it to pieces, was unable to put it together; the 12th-century south door was moved into the north doorway, with the loss of most of its original ironwork, and painted glass was installed in the east and south windows. Between 1879 and 1884 an extensive restoration, financed by subscription, was carried out to plans by Henry Woodyer. The gallery was removed and the screen placed at the entrance to the chancel; the nave ceiling was removed; the south aisle roof and belfry were restored, and the external render was removed. The southeast organ chamber was built, the arch from the chancel into the organ chamber, similar to that of the first bay of the nave arcade, replaced a large window of uncertain date. The nave windows were altered to make them appear more Romanesque: tracery was removed from the northwest window, and the square window lighting the pulpit was given a round head externally and detached shafts with scallop capitals internally. Lancet windows were installed in the south aisle, and a new north window inserted in the chancel. A pulpit carved by Mr. Peters of Antwerp was given in 1886. In 1920 a war memorial was dedicated. The church was extensively repaired between 1988 and 1990. Wall paintings of c. 1120 were discovered under whitewash at Copford in 1690-1 during restoration by the parishioners, and described as 'very fair and fresh paintings of Christ upon the Cross, of St. Peter's motherinlaw lying sick of a fever, of St. Mary Magdalen, and other representations, which were all whited over again, but not defaced'. In 1871 the whitewash was removed from the interior of the apse; in 1872, the paintings uncovered there were restored by Daniel Bell who 'added and supplied what was necessary'. The nave paintings were restored in 1879, and all of the paintings were restored in 1931-2 by E. W. Tristram, in 1963-4 by Eve Baker, and between 1990 and 1993 by Wolfgang Gärtner. The paintings in the apse depict Christ in Majesty surrounded by angels and apostles; there is a zodiac on the soffit of the apse arch. The nave and chancel paintings have scenes from Christ's ministry, related typological miracles, and what are either military saints or a Psychomachia with the Virtues and Vices depicted as armed, male figures. There is extensive geometric ornament around the openings, much of it heavily restored; the lost vaults in the nave and chancel were also probably painted, probably with figures in roundels. Technically and stylistically, the paintings are related to those in St Gabriel's chapel in Canterbury cathedral, and may relate to a scheme at old St. Paul's cathedral. The scenes of the Annunciation and the Visitation of the Shepherds over the chancel arch are an addition of the 1880s. There are three bells, two of the 15th century by Henry Jordan and John Bird respectively, and one of 1574 by Thomas Draper and William Land. The bells were good in 1859, and survived in 1998. In Edward VI's reign there was a chalice of silver and parcel gilt. In 1998 the ironframed wooden chest survived as did the font which had a late 12th-century square bowl and modern base; there were monuments to members of the Haynes and Harrison families, and memorial stones to some rectors and their families. The lychgate was given in memory of Capt. C. C. F. Harrison (d. 1937) by his wife.

From: 'Copford: Church', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 10: Lexden Hundred (Part) including Dedham, Earls Colne and Wivenhoe (2001), pp. 149-152. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=15213&amp;amp;strquery=copford Date accessed: 12 February 2011.

Copford is a village and civil parish in Essex, 3 kilometres (2 mi) west of Colchester. The hamlet of Copford Green is found a short distance to the south. The poet Matthew Arnold noted he was struck by "the deeply rural character of the village and neighbourhood." For adminstrative purposes the Parish Council forms part of the Colchester District of Essex.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
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Census records
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Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Essex Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

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