The Church of Saint John the Baptist with Our Lady and Saint Laurence is the parish church of the town of Thaxted in Essex, England. The present church was built over an extended period between c. 1380 and 1510 in the English Perpendicular style. Sitting on top of a hill with a slender spire reaching high, the church is one of the largest in the county, overlooking the town and the surrounding countryside. Its size is an indication of the former prosperity of the town, because of the medieval cutlery and wool trades that once flourished here. The church has earned the epithet "the Cathedral of Essex". The church is a Grade I Listed Building on the National Heritage List.
Since 13 June 2017, the Benefice of Thaxted has been joined with that of the Sampfords, Radwinter and Hempstead. Since 1914, the church parish has formed part of the Diocese of Chelmsford, but previously it has been in the dioceses of London (foundation to 1846), Rochester (1846–77) and Saint Albans (1877–1914).
History
Origins
There has been a Christian church in Thaxted since Saxon times. The first documented reference to a church in the settlement is in the Liber Eliensis, regarding a gift of land in "Thacstede" to the abbey at Ely by a woman named Æthelgifu sometime between 981 and 1016. It states that the will, written in English, was kept in the church there as evidence. An early church was said to have been dedicated to Saint Catherine and its foundations were reportedly found in the eighteenth century at Rails Farm, not far from the present church site. There is also evidence that the current building stands on the site of an earlier church, and that traces of this church were found under the chancel.
Why a modest settlement such as Thaxted in the fourteenth century should have embarked upon building such a grandiose structure has long been a matter of debate and conjecture. A number of factors may have played a part: a dispute between the vicar and the monks of Tilty Abbey over tithes allowed the considerable sums previously donated to the abbey by the town to be diverted to the parish church, at a time when the town was beginning to prosper as a centre of the cutlery industry. The inhabitants were therefore able to organise and contribute towards the financing of a major church building project, even if the support of rich benefactors was still necessary. During the period when construction began, many small donations of land were made to the borough, which were immediately sold, presumably for the purpose of funding the new structure. The appointment of four churchwardens is taken as an indication that the town was managing funds for construction.
The construction was sponsored by a number of noble patrons descended from the Clare family who had held the manor of Thaxted since the Norman Conquest: Elizabeth, Lady Clare (1295–1360); Lionel, Duke of Clarence (1338–68); Edmund Mortimer, 3rd Earl of March (1352–81); his grandson, Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March (1391–1425); and King Edward IV (1442–83).
Construction
The current church was built over an extended period from the mid-fourteenth century to the first quarter of the sixteenth century, probably on the site of an earlier church. The earliest parts of the present building date from c. 1340 and substantial building works were completed by c.1510. Foundations of the earlier structure were apparently discovered under the entrance to the Chancel. Some have theorized that these remains, and the late construction of the Chancel, show that the older building remained in place until most of the new structure had been completed.
The precise order in which the church was completed is hard to confirm, but the following is based on the survey by the Royal Commission on Historic Monuments:
nave with north and south aisles (c.1340 or earlier) south transept and widening of south aisle (c.1360–1380) south porch (c.1380) north transept (c.1380–1420) north porch and widening of the north aisle (c.1445) west tower and spire (c.1475–1500) chancel, north and south chapels, crossing arches and nave clerestory (c.1510)
It has been conjectured that the original plan for the building included a central tower over the crossing, and that this tower may have fallen.
Restoration over the centuries
The building has been restored periodically, but, according to Pevsner, "care has always been taken and [...] not much has been changed". As early as 1561, the Lord Treasurer was requested to provide funds to repair and maintain "such fair edifice, builded of good zeal and devotion of our Predecessors".