Photographs of St James' Church,
Little Clacton

Click on an image to see the full picture

This church is described as "an almost completely unspoilt example of early Norman architecture". It is true that the Chancel was built in the early 1100s, but the Nave was lengthened and probably rebuilt in the early 15th century (making it late Medieval). Facing the altar is a genuine and very narrow Norman window. This has beautiful new stained glass in memory of a parishioner.
Much of the church is built of an unusual stone called “Septaria” which is formed from clay dredged from the bottom of rivers. It was rendered with cement in Victorian times. When this was removed from the North wall in 2007, they uncovered a broad wall of Tudor brick with the bottom few feet being 18th century brick. Behind the wall was a void a foot or so deep and in the stone wall behind could be seen the outline of a wide but quite low Norman archway. I'm not sure that it's "unspoilt early Norman", but seems more mixed like most of the churches in Essex.