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

The Parish

The parish of Little Wakering lies in the extreme southeast of Essex forming a short stretch of the county's much convoluted coastline.Little Wakering is located a little over 4 miles northeast of the seaside resort of Southend on Sea and sits a mile north of the termination of the A13 which runs from London out to Shoeburyness. Little Wakering is an expanded community, early maps show a tightly compact village grouped around the junction at which the church sits, modern Little Wakering is a very linear place extending from the western edges of its larger neighbour, Great Wakering, northwards until becoming contiguous with Barling to its north too. This area is a network of low lying farmland interspersed with an intricate set of tidal creeks and inlets, this landscape lent itself to a mixed economy with arable farming on drier land, pastures on the grazing marshes and the exploitation of both fishery and shell-fishery stocks, oysters being a particular staple of this coast, in addition some coastal transportation of goods would have occurred. Little Wakering is drained by these numerous creeks into the main estuary to its north, that of the River Roach. Little Wakering is sited at just 6 metres above the sea in rather flat terrain where heights of 25 metres in the northern suburbs of Southend represent the local high-points. Little Wakering parish was extensive for a lowland arable parish, much of this extra acreage being reclaimed land used for pasture, its total acreage of just under 2,700 acres would have supported a population of around 300 parishioners. In Domesday times this was a lonely and rather desolate coastline, Little Wakering was held by a Saxon survivor, one Swain of Essex, and mustered a mere 3 ploughs and some pasture.

The Church

St Mary's church sits at the junction of Little Wakering Road and a short stub of lane that becomes a footpath leading to Little Wakering Hall and the creeks of the nearby coastline, this was the former heart of the early community. The church has fabric of 3 distinct ages and the earliest fabric, that of the nave & chancel, is of the 12th century Norman Romanesque period. Built of a mixed rubble these parts show tiny 12th century windows, still, on their northern face which Pevsner attributes to this earliest period. The build of this main core extended into the 13th century as evidenced by the 13th century recess and an arch with a keeled roll moulding, both within the nave. Perhaps the church's standout feature, however, is its fine western tower which uses a rag-stone. Documentary evidence shows this to have been funded by the 15th century Bishop Wakering of Norwich, bishop between 1416 & 1425, which dates the tower comfortably within its Perpendicular style's period. The final dating comes from more modern times, the church has received a series of restorations in Victorian & more modern periods, Pevsner records the chancel as restored in 1878, the nave in 1884 and a more general restoration of the mid-1930s, all of which contributed their piece to the church of today. In 2021 the church was subject to a proposal to decommission it as a religious venue and sell it for private use, thankfully and for now it continues as a chapel of ease. The combined bus-stop & lay-by immediately outside the gates provides adequate parking allowing an extended visit. Sadly for the photographer the favoured southeastern aspects are impaired by close trees making the church a tricky subject especially on a sunny day.