St Michael's Church, Berechurch

St Michael's has never been a parish church, but rather a chapel of ease to Holy Trinity Church, Colchester. A chapel was added to the north of the church in the early 16th century, and this was completed before 1533. In 1536 Thomas Audley, the Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII, was licensed to create a separate rectory at Berechurch, and it is thought that Audley may have been responsible for building the chapel, which now bears his name. More work was done to the church in the early 17th century. In 1872 the church was entirely rebuilt, apart from the tower and the Audley Chapel, by Charles Pertwee, re-using some of the earlier features. The south porch was added in 1878. After the Second…

The nave, chancel and tower have been converted for non-ecclesiastical purposes. The Audley Chapel has a hammerbeam roof with carvings that include the emblems of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Also on the roof are heraldic badges containing the arms of Audley of Walden. The chapel contains monuments, the most notable of which is to Sir Henry Audley, erected in 1648 before he died. It includes a white marble reclining effigy in armour, on a black and white chest containing the carved figures of his five children. There is also a tablet to Robert Audley who died in 1624, with memento mori motifs. There are further memorials dating from the 19th century.