Stambourne, St Peter
Stambourne: cut-away view of the 'great west' tower Illustration by Daniel Secker
Stambourne the far north is Essex is one of a handful of unusually large Romanesque west towers here known as 'great west' towers. Brabourne in Kent (see Gallery) is a late example, but Stambourne dates from the last quarter of the 11th century. While most examples were commissioned by senior clerics, Stambourne in unusual in that it was almost certainly commissioned by a lay baron, Haimo II Dapifer, sheriff of Kent, c.1088-1115 (Secker 2014). It is thus not strictly a 'Domesday' church, but was built only a few years after the survey.
The tower has a keep-like aspect, appropriate enough, since Stambourne was the chief seat of Haimo's Essex estates. Spatial analysis by this writer (ibid) suggests it may have had some of the administrative functions of a keep, though it was not defensive. The ground floor, entered through a now blocked doorway, possibly served as Haimo's private chapel, his household worshipping in the attached nave. The large windows of the first floor suggest an audience chamber. There was formerly a doorway here looking into the nave (Andrews 2000). This perhaps allowed Haimo to address the congregation in the nave from an exalted position. The second floor, as with a 'conventional' west tower, was probably a bell chamber.
Repairs to the nave in 1999 showed it was partly contemporary with the tower (ibid). Its eastern form is not known, but there is evidence Stambourne originated as a private chapel rather than a parish church (Secker 2014). In this respect, it can be compared with the early Romanesque single-cell apsed chapels at Cressing (Hope 1984) and the bailey chapel at Colchester Castle (Turner 1984). It is tentatively postulated that the body of the church at Stambourne was similar in form, though only archaeological intervention can clarify this.
References
Andrews, D. D. 2000, 'St Peter, Stambourne: the 1999 refurbishment and the bell-frame', Essex Archaeology and History 31, 265-8
Hope, J. H. 1984, 'Excavations at All Saints Church, Cressing, Essex, 1979', in Buckley, D. G. (ed), Four Church Excavations in Essex. Occasional Paper 4, Chelmsford: Essex County Council, 28-42
Secker, D. 2014, 'The "great west" towers of St Peter, Stambourne, Essex and St Nicholas, Leeds, Kent: "clerical" towers for a lay lord?, Medieval Archaeology 58, 285-306
Turner, R. 1884, 'Excavations at St Mary's church, West Bergholt, Essex, 1978', in Buckley, D. G. (ed), Four Church Excavations in Essex. Occasional Paper 4, Chelmsford: Essex County Council, 43-68
Stambourne the far north is Essex is one of a handful of unusually large Romanesque west towers here known as 'great west' towers. Brabourne in Kent (see Gallery) is a late example, but Stambourne dates from the last quarter of the 11th century. While most examples were commissioned by senior clerics, Stambourne in unusual in that it was almost certainly commissioned by a lay baron, Haimo II Dapifer, sheriff of Kent, c.1088-1115 (Secker 2014). It is thus not strictly a 'Domesday' church, but was built only a few years after the survey.
The tower has a keep-like aspect, appropriate enough, since Stambourne was the chief seat of Haimo's Essex estates. Spatial analysis by this writer (ibid) suggests it may have had some of the administrative functions of a keep, though it was not defensive. The ground floor, entered through a now blocked doorway, possibly served as Haimo's private chapel, his household worshipping in the attached nave. The large windows of the first floor suggest an audience chamber. There was formerly a doorway here looking into the nave (Andrews 2000). This perhaps allowed Haimo to address the congregation in the nave from an exalted position. The second floor, as with a 'conventional' west tower, was probably a bell chamber.
Repairs to the nave in 1999 showed it was partly contemporary with the tower (ibid). Its eastern form is not known, but there is evidence Stambourne originated as a private chapel rather than a parish church (Secker 2014). In this respect, it can be compared with the early Romanesque single-cell apsed chapels at Cressing (Hope 1984) and the bailey chapel at Colchester Castle (Turner 1984). It is tentatively postulated that the body of the church at Stambourne was similar in form, though only archaeological intervention can clarify this.
References
Andrews, D. D. 2000, 'St Peter, Stambourne: the 1999 refurbishment and the bell-frame', Essex Archaeology and History 31, 265-8
Hope, J. H. 1984, 'Excavations at All Saints Church, Cressing, Essex, 1979', in Buckley, D. G. (ed), Four Church Excavations in Essex. Occasional Paper 4, Chelmsford: Essex County Council, 28-42
Secker, D. 2014, 'The "great west" towers of St Peter, Stambourne, Essex and St Nicholas, Leeds, Kent: "clerical" towers for a lay lord?, Medieval Archaeology 58, 285-306
Turner, R. 1884, 'Excavations at St Mary's church, West Bergholt, Essex, 1978', in Buckley, D. G. (ed), Four Church Excavations in Essex. Occasional Paper 4, Chelmsford: Essex County Council, 43-68