Little Tey

64. LITTLE TEY. (B.c.)

(O.S. 6 in. xxvi. S.E.)

Little Tey is a very small parish about 3 m. E.N.E. of Great Coggeshall. The church is interesting.

Ecclesiastical

(1). Parish Church of St. James (Plate, p. xxviii) stands about the middle of the parish. The walls are of coursed flint-rubble with some pudding-stone the dressings are of limestone and the roofs are tiled. The Chancel and Nave were built c. 1130. Probably early in the 16th century the bell-turret was built. The church was restored in the 19th century when the North Vestry and South Porch were added.

The church is interesting as having an apsidal E. end.

Architectural Description—The Chancel and Nave (47½ ft. by 18 ft.) are structurally undivided. The plain semi-circular apse has at the E. end a window of two pointed lights in an elliptical head; it is perhaps of the 14th century, subsequently altered. At the spring of the apse on each side is a 12th-century window, that on the N. modern externally but old internally and that on the S. enlarged and with an inserted lancet-window. The N. wall has two windows, the eastern of the 14th century, partly restored, and of two pointed lights in a two-centred head; the western window is a single round-headed light of the 12th century; further W. is the N. doorway, modern externally but with 12th-century splays and round rear-arch. In the S. wall are two windows uniform with those in the N. wall except that the spandrel of the eastern window is quatrefoiled; further W. is the 12th-century S. doorway (Plate, p. 142) with jambs of two plain orders, grooved and chamfered imposts and a moulded, semi-circular arch enclosing a diapered tympanum; the door-head has been subsequently raised and an oak lintel inserted in the tympanum. In the W. wall is an early 15th-century window of two cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery in a two-centred head with a moulded label; above it is a single 12th-century light with a round head and altered internally.

The Roof of the apse is gabled and has a large projecting gusset-piece on each side under the eaves. The roof of the nave is of trussed-rafter type and ceiled.

Fittings—Bell: one, by Henry Pleasant, 1701. Chair: In chancel—with cane back, carved front legs and rail, turned back legs, early 18th-century. Chest: In vestry—of hutch-shape with one lock, three locks missing, probably 16th-century. Font: In garden of rectory, lower part of octagonal bowl with moulded under-edge, 15th-century. Glass: In E. window, fragments with small flower-ornament, 15th-century. Plate: includes late 16th-century cup and cover-paten, the cup with bands of incised ornament.

Condition—Good.

Secular

(2). Homestead Moat, at Little Tey House, ½ m. N. of the church.

(3). Godbolt's Farm, house, 600 yards S.E. of the church, is of two storeys, timber-framed and plastered; the roofs are tiled. It was built probably in the 15th-century, with a central hall and cross-wings at the E. and W. ends. The hall has been divided into two storeys. Inside the building the W. wing has an original cambered tie-beam and flat joists.

Condition—Good.