The Clergy at St. Mary's

The church guide says that Queen Elizabeth ordered registers be kept in churches in 1559.

William Smythies, in 1623, kept a record of his predecessors in a vellum bound book. This book was kept in the church safe, but has not been seen by me and I suspect that it is either in the Essex (or other) archive or has been lost. I cannot find a listing for the register in the Essex Archive but that does not mean it is not there.

The earliest recorded priest in this register is John Clerke (pre 1370) - he was in the time of Simon of Sudbury, 1361-1375.

One has to remember that the Church of England was not formed at the time of the earlier entries in the register and the transistion from the Catholic church to the Protestant occurred over this time. In addition, the Interegnum, January 1649 - May 1660, was within this period

Grindall