WWI Commemoration Plaque, Church of St Mary the Virgin, Church Street, Wendens Ambo, Essex. CB11 4JZ
Posted by: 
greysman
N 52° 00.311 E 000° 12.161
31U E 308003 N 5765309
A highly polished plaque in this old village church commemorates the six men who fell in The Great War. A secondary plaque commemorates the two fallen from WWII.
Waymark Code: WMMRTB
Location: Eastern England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 10/30/2014
Views: 1
The Grade I listed Church of St Mary the Virgin dates from the latter part of the C11th and comprises a west tower, nave with north and south aisles and a chancel. It is of flint rubble, the tower is C11th, having three bell openings with colonettes. The semi-circular arch of the west door is entirely of Roman tiles with a single storey tympanum. The tower has a later embattled parapet and is surmounted by a slender spire, a Hertfordshire Spike. The nave also is Norman but there was considerable restoration in the late C19th when the north aisle and south porch were rebuilt. The south aisle is C13th and the clerestorey to the nave is C15th. Amongst roof timbers are C15th king posts along with the modern timbering of the roof. The chancel is C13th and has two cusped lancet windows. The most impressive internal features, to my mind, are the remains of a C14th cycle of wall paintings depicting episodes in the life of St Margaret, the martyr of Antioch.
These two plaques are fixed to the south wall of the south aisle. The upper one commemorates the fallen in the Great War and the lower one, of the same design, commemorates the fallen in WWII. Both are brass with a border frieze of geometric design with quatrefoils at the corners. The wording in the upper plaque reads:-
ERECTED BY THE PARISHIONERS
OF + WENDENS AMBO + IN
GRATEFUL MEMORY OF THOSE
WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN
THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918
HENRY WALTER CLARK
2nd ESSEX Rgt. DIED 16th DEC.1916.
FREDERICK ALLEN CLARK
EAST SURREY Rgt. DIED 22nd MARCH 1918.
LEONARD CLARK
1st EAST LAC BATT DIED 18th FEB.1919.
HARRY CLARK
10th ESSEX Rgt. DIED 22nd OCT.1917.
CHARLES COSTON
NORTHUMd FUSlrs DIED 26th APRIL 1917.
FREDERICK WELLS DAVIS
NORTH LANCS Rgt. DIED 25th NOV.1916.The WWII plaque reads:-
1939 - 1945
JOHN HALSE WATKINS
1st AIRBORNE DIVISION DIED 6th JUNE 1944.
ALBERT ARTHUR KING
(Reconnissance Corps) Regt. DIED 29th MARCH 1943.The coordinates given are for the church south porch.