The Ragstone Bell Towers of the Essex Coast
About 47 Church towers along the Essex coast are built with Kentish Ragstone and are shown on this map...
here is an introductory video available entitled: The Ragstone Bell towers of the Essex Coast
The name Ragstone has its origins with the early stonemasons who observed that this Kent stone produced a particularly ragged surface when split with a chisel, unlike many other softer UK sand and lime stones. The predominance on church towers of buttresses, with large areas of blank walls broken only with horizontal string courses and crenulations on the tower parapet that resemble military defensive architecture all helps to create an impression of solidarity, durability and permanence. Most of the towers were built in the 14th and 15th centuries when Essex villages were under threat of invasion by European counties such as France, Holland and Spain and seem to have been originally buit for a variety of reasons... Visual impact without a tower simple churches tend to resemble barn-like structures. Observation tower Being on high ground and close to the coast many of these towers had excellent views along the estuaries and out to sea. A signalling tower The tower would have been the fastest way to send and receive messages to and from nearby villages and towns. As well as sounding a bell, flags would have been used during daylight hours and beacons at night. Many of these coastal towers can be seen and be seen on clear days from other towers and would have been able to send, receive and pass on signals. A fortified tower The tower and church with small windows and heavy doors could provide villagers with a safe refuse if threatened by attack from an invading force. Between 1200 and 1600 before anyone could start constructing a Crenulated or Castellated building, including the church, the King’s permission was needed. Having partitioned the King a Crenulation Certificate with a royal seal was received. There was no fee so it wasn’t a form of tax, rather a commitment of royalty. A smuggler’s lookout During the peak smuggling era churches and their priests tended to side with the smugglers because they werent comfortable with the lack of local funding from the crown which contrasted with the uses the crown put the money to overseas to acquire new territories. For time keeping Tall towers were ideal for sundials and pendulum clocks at a time when few ordinary folk could afford a clock. As a bell tower When first built most towers only had one or two bells. More were added later and today English style bellringing is the main use for these towers. Here is a recording of “Plain Bob Doubles” on 6 bells...
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The album below contains images of most of these Essex coastal fortified and castellated towers. They can be easily spotted by the similar appearance of the stone. The album also contains images of Victorian towers with spires that were also built of Ragstone in Victorian times, plus Essex castles and other ragstone buildings identified while researching the subject... view the full album
While researching this subject several castles and forts in Essex that were also constructed of Kentish ragstone were identified and are shown on this map...
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