On our daily wildflower search for Essex Bio Blitz, we ended up in Little Braxted, so we took a break and visited St. Nicholas church. You can see by the red squiggles on the map how much we studied every little corner!
Little Braxted was the home parish of one of the great Anglo-Catholic and architectural enthusiast priests of the late 19th Century, Father Ernest Geldart. His high-quality work is familiar from church restorations across north Essex and Suffolk, mostly in carpentry and painted wood but also in murals, encaustic tiles and even in glass. St Nicholas was his church, and over twenty years at the end of the century he transformed it in his individualistic Arts and Crafts style.
To step inside is to enter and immerse yourself in Geldart’s High Church imagination, for almost every surface is stencilled, painted or gilded, glimmering in the dim light that filters through the windows.
Ref: Simon Knott
(c) Jo Phillips
