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

The Parish

The parish of Stebbing lies in the northwestern portion of central Essex roughly 3 miles northeast of the market town of Great Dunmow. Stebbing sits about 2 miles north of the A120- road which connects Great Dunmow with Braintree. Stebbing is a linear village, a single long street running from northwest to southeast runs for over a mile from Bran End to the parish church at its southernmost end, all parallels the Stebbing Brook which runs to the west. Stebbing sits within a highly fertile part of the county and the parish has been extensively farmed, the nature of the production has changed across the centuries, in medieval times the land was dominated by sheep for both meat and especially the wool, that wool supported a thriving artisanal cloth making trade which Stebbing also participated in. In more modern times the land has passed over to arable and large hedgeless fields now dominate with cereals, oil seed and beet dominant. The brook was important too with its power providing a number of mills for grinding of the produce for flour. Like most places involved in the labour intensive cottage industry of cloth making the impact of mechanisation in northern mill towns decimated the trade within a generation leading to a period of relative poverty. Modern developments have made the A120 into a dual-carriageway highway bringing the possibility of commuting especially given the proximity of London Stansted Airport. Stebbing is drained southeastwards by its brook which joins the Chelmer at Felsted continuing in a similar direction to Chelmsford and then eastwards to the port of Maldon, the Blackwater Estuary and the North Sea. Stebbing is sited at around 70 metres above the sea in generally gentle terrain, to the northeast a few spots approach without breaking the 100 metre contour. Stebbing parish was towards the larger end of the scale for its county covering 4,300 acres and supporting a population of around 1,450 parishioners. Even by Domesday times Stebbing was a substantial settlement, its 104 households comfortably placing it into the top 20% of settlement by population, shared between Henry de Ferrers and Ranulf Peverel it also had substantial assets, 25 ploughs were backed by meadows & woodland and the was already a mill exploiting the brook.

The Church

At the southern end of the lengthy main street (High Street) it reaches a T-junction with Watch House Road, St Mary's church sits immediately east of that junction. St Mary is a good example of a church which was built largely in a single campaign through the 14th century with only relatively modest changes happening after completion. The experts differ as to the exact dates, Pevsner preferring an earlier date than Historic England as he identifies Decorated element intermixed with the typical Perpendicular style of the later 14th century, Historic England goes for c1360. The principal changes came soon after completion in the 15th century when a clerestory was inserted to improve internal lighting and the east window completed. Minor changes were made to the southern porch in the 16th century. The church also apparently avoided the typical thorough Victorian restoration allowing us to see it as it was first intended. Internally the church has one stand-out feature well worth a visit as its stone rood screen fills the whole of the chancel arch with stepped lancets. The entrance to the churchyard is broad allowing for parking within the site and off road, a few easily avoided trees dot the churchyard but are only a minor inconvenience for the photographer with plenty of options remaining.