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

The Parish

The parish of Frinton lies in the extreme east of Essex forming a stretch of the county's North Sea coastline. Frinton is located roughly 5 miles northeast of Clacton on Sea and sits at the eastern enf od the B1033 which links Frinton with the A133 (Clacton on Sea to Colchester) road at Weeley. Frinton was once a tiny place, its population in the census of 1861 was just 29 in a tiny hamlet on the coast clustered around the old church. It was the arrival of the railway granting a station in 1888 that saw this coastline ripe for development and by 1921 the population had grown to over 3,000. Frinton is the classic seaside resort with a lengthy promenade backed by characterless and identikit late Victorian and early 20th century properties. As a coastal site most water finds its way into the nearby sea by various means. Frinton is sited at between sea level and 20 metres in gentle terrain. Frinton parish was probably the smallest rural parish in its county having lost much acreage to the sea over the centuries it was recorded in early gazetteers as being merely 474 acres with a population of fewer than 50 parishioners. In Domesday times it 9 households had assets of 5 ploughs with meadows & pastures for the benefit of the twin landholders, Count Eustace of Boulogne and Geoffrey de Mandeville.

The Church

The old parish church of St Mary the Virgin, it was replaced by the modern St Mary Magdelene on Old Road in 1929, sits where Old Road meets The Esplanade with its view of the sea marred by some multi-storey blocks of flats. The old church is tiny, as befits the size of its small congregation, with the nave only 25 feet in length. The church lacked a chancel, which fell in a gale in 1703, until a replacement was built in 1879. The nave shows the styling of the Decorated period of the early 14th century but has received much attention from restorers over the centuries. In 1894 the nave was lengthened during restoration but this was later removed following the opening of St Mary Magdelene. The only embellishments to the simple structure are the double-bellcote and a 16th century brick porch which, too, was rebuilt by the 1879 restorers. Old Road does have on-street parking but obviously during weekends and holidays demand is high. The churchyard, fronted by wrought-iron fencing with wooden gates for entry, is till open access, it does have some inconveniently located trees so careful choice of angles is required by the photographer.