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The Old
Church
Morant
apparently preferred the form “Mile End”, and this spelling
also appears on the present Church Plate, for the beautiful
silver Chalice and Paten which are used in the Church today are
those originally used in the old Church; they were made as a
pair in 1660 and the inscription on the Chalice is as follows:
This
cup was made in March 1660. Robert Root and Edward Springham
being then Churchwardens of the parrish of Mile End by
Colchester.
The
inscription on the Paten is similar, except that “parish” is
spelled correctly with one “r”.
The
earliest Church Registers, which were saved from the old Church,
are in good condition: the first entries are:
St.
Michael Miland in Colchester.
Christengs.
John
ye son of Mary Giles three years old and Sarah ye daughter of
Mary Giles five years old were baptised Novemebr ye 5th
1671.
The
first marriage recorded is as follows:
June
ye 9. 1674. Jefferv Marsh of Tolfbury, singleman; and Margaret
Wright of ye same town widow were married.
The
first entry in the Burial Register makes reference to an act of
1667 which was passed to help the woollen industry, requiring
that every person should be buried in a woolen shroud; the entry
is as follows:
John
ye son of Robert Bacon sen. was buried August
30th 1678. An affidavit that he was buried in
woolen was brought September 8th.
This
description of the old Church is taken from Morant’s
“History of Colchester”, previously referred to:
The
Church is of one pace with the Chancel, and very small: at the
West end there is a little wooden Turret, containing one Bell.
It is rated in the Kings Books at £7.10s. John Hetoun was
Rector of This Parish in 1310.
The
foundation stones, and a number of tombstones, may still be seen
in the grounds of the Rectory. An effigy of St. Michael, taken
from the old Church, is housed in the present Church. The
Illustration is a reproduction of a picture showing the Church
as it appeared in Morant’s time.
Newcourt’s
Repertorium (Ecclesiastical Parochial history of the Diocese of
London) gives the following information:
Mvlend.
Rectory in the Archdeac. of Colchester, Deanry and Hundr. of
Lexden. and is one of the four Parishes within the Liberties of
that town, distant about a mile, N. and because the
Ch.
is dedicated to St Michael the Arch-Angel, is
Commonlv call’d S. Michael Milend It is subject to the
Archdeacon. The Ch.
is a Rectory, and belong‘d to the Pri. and Conv. of S. Botolph
in Colchester, who continu’d Patrons till their
Suppression. Then falling to the Crown. Hen. VIII Reg. 28
granted the Advowson to Sir Tho. Audley. Kt. Chancellor of his
Court of Augmentations who presented to it in 1542. and by his
Will, gave it to his Brother Thomas Audley, who not many Years
after, pass’d it away to John Lucas, Esq; who presented in
1551, in which Family, afterwards enobled, it continu’d, till
bv the Death of John, Lord Lucas, in 1670, without Issue-Male it
came to Anthony, E. of Kent, by his Marriage with Mary, his sole
Daughter and Heir, in which Noble Family of Kent, I suppose it
still continues.
This
was in 1710; the Patron in 1851 was the Rt. Hon. Thomas Philip
Earl of Grey, K.G.; later, Earl Cowper was Patron; and at the
present time the living is in the gift of Balliol College,
Oxford.
The
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, 1922, states:
The
old church fell down in the 19th Century and a new
church was built in the village in 1854-5. On the site are the
remains of the rubble foundations of the nave about 18ft. wide
and of indeterminate length: the chancel has entirely
disappeared. Near the entrance to the churchyard are two pieces
of 14th or 15th Century moulded stonework.
And
what of the Rectors who served the Parish in this first Church
of Myland? A list of their names is appended, but only of the
Rev. Philip T. Strong - have we any written records. The first
existing Parish Minute Book contains the minutes of Parish or
Vestry Meetings attended by him and his Churchwardens from 1824
onwards, and in the early part of the 19th Century
the Parish Councils dealt with matters relating to Highways,
Poor Law and Public Health, although these powers were lost to
them one after another in the era of reconstruction which
followed the Reform Act of 1832. The Rev. P. Strong held a
position of great influence in the Parish; he was concerned too
with the need for providing general education for the children,
as is shown by this appeal which he sent out on March 30th,
1844:
Revd.
P. Strong having found the efficiency of his Sunday School sadly
impeded by the idle interval between Sabbath and Sabbath, feels
constrained by a sense of duty to appeal to his Parishioners, to
help him in obtaining a Weekly Establishment for the Children of
the labouring Poor. His object is, not to educate overmuch, but
to train up both sexes, with such principles and information, as
may make them diligent, useful, & religious Members of
Society in the Class to which they belong. And he does not
desire to keep them under Tuition, the Girls after 14, & the
Boys after 9 years of age, except on Sundays.
A
Schoolroom (it is well known) has been already provided. And Mr.
Strong earnestly hopes (when the very desirable objects of his
proposal are considered) that it will receive the liberal
support of all, who are connected with the Parish.
The
result was a subscription list totalling nearly £20, and the
day-school was soon established in premises on the opposite side
of the road to the
Rectory (See the illustration of the old school, below).
In 1955, there were still people living in the village who
remembered stories told by their grandparents, about the Rev. P.
Strong. Mrs. Mortis, of Nayland Road, told how her husband’s
grandmother, Mrs. Elizabeth Osborne, used to recollect that one
day she was talking to a friend on North Hill and the two girls
watched the aged clergyman, who was descending the hill, stop,
turn, and look back to the town whence he had come. One said to
the other: “Just look at Parson Strong! He be gazing at that
owd hill as if he fare never to set eyes on it again’ “ That
evening Parson Strong, after thirty-two years’ faithful
service in the Parish, was called from this life whilst he knelt
at his bedside repeating the Lord’s Prayer.
Four
years later, Mrs. Osborne (Elizabeth Kettle, as she was then)
was married in the little old Parish Church of Myland, and by
this time the foundation of the new Church was already being
excavated; both her brother Tom and her “best man” were
among those employed on the work.
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