All Saints' Church, Stock, Essex (parish of Stock Harvard)

Easter 2024 services

At All Saints' Church in Stock unless otherwise stated:

* Thu 28 March, 8pm: Mass of the Last Supper.
* (Fri 29 March, 11am: Three Churches in Stock start Good Friday Walk of Witness at Our Lady & St Joseph, and finishing at All Saints' Church.)
* Fri 29 March, 2pm: Meditative Service on Stations of The Cross.
* Sun 31 Mar 6.15am: 
(nb clocks will have gone forward) Sunrise Service at our sister church St Margaret's, Downham, to welcome Easter Day.
* Sun 31 March, 11am (nb clocks will have gone forward): Holy Communion for Easter Day.

... and also

*PLUS Mon 1 Apr, 2pm: Egg Hunt at All Saints' Church in Stock. See image below for Revd Miranda's mobile number for tickets (with egg prize guaranteed).

All Saints' Church is the parish church of Stock Harvard, in the village of Stock. This ancient building is Grade 1 listed and sits beside a large graveyard, a garden of remembrance and a glebe - which is a field used for the dinner dance, flower festival and fete that is one of the biggest events in the village calendar. Please see the following introduction about our worship. And click here to find us.

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Introduction to All Saints' Church

The first written evidence of the existence of a church in Stock is in 1232, and it is reasonable to suppose that a church, consisting of a nave and a chancel, was erected here in the early Norman period.

The building, and the generations of Christians that have worshipped here for hundreds of years, witness to the timeless truths of the Gospel. Christ is as present with us today as he was present when All Saints was first built and the villagers first worshipped within its hallowed walls.

Stock is a village about a mile north of Billericay and 6 miles south of Chelmsford. It used to be called Stock Harvard and the ecclesiastical parish is still known by that name.

All Saints is the village parish church where Christians of different backgrounds from the village and surrounding area come together in the company of all the saints to worship the living God.

We stand within the catholic tradition of the Church of England, and at the heart of our life is the celebration of the Mass. Sunday by Sunday, and during the week, we gather to do what our Lord commanded us, to receive the body and blood of Christ in Holy Communion and to hear God speak to us through the Scriptures.

As members of his Church we all seek to follow Jesus, through whom we can enjoy a living relationship with God.

If you would like to find out more about us or to discover more about the Christian faith then please get in touch, or come and visit us.

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The south face of the chancel and nave roofs almost covered in reclaimed tiles, with work contiuning on the other side

Roof work moving to completion

The south face of the nave and chancel roofs are just several days' work from completion, including new powder-coated guttering (paid for by our Friends).

Timber and lead work continues on the north face, with all the tiles ready for putting in place. Its is hoped tnat all work will be completed before the end of April.

We have managed to retain some of the old tiles but most are comparatively newer reclaimed hand-made tiles from another site. 

After some major timber repairs (with some more to go on the northern side of the nave), new felt has been added to both sides of both roofs. And new treated battens were added to hold the tiles.

Repairs also included some gutters and hoppers, plus some stonework. 

All this followedmany months of consultations with our long-serving architect, roofers, the Diocesan Advisory Committee, and bat consultants (plus Historic England and Natural England) keeping an eye on us.

Step back nearly three years to the gusty day when a 2m row of tiles slipped on the Chancel roof.  Checks revealed that roof repairs after the nearby 1940 landmine explosion had been done while facing a post-war shortage of key materials.  See the image below for the wartime damage.

In short we discovered that the roofs over the Chancel and the Nave had little or no waterproof underfelt, the wooden battens were untreated and rotting, and even the nails were poor quality and rusting through.

That meant major areas of the roof were deemed to be liable to fail at any time, leaving wooden slats open to the elements.

Last year we worked through the detailed process of obtaining a bat licence (after three separate surveys) to allow work to go ahead. Six new bat boxes have already been installed on churchyard trees to provide additional and any replacement accommodation.

One of the biggest – and most frustrating – challenges of maintaining a Grade 1 listed church is spending a six-figure sum for a repair designed to be as unobtrusive as possible when complete. But soon you can admire how it has mostly appeared for centuries - and can now be for many more years.

* If you wish to help to cover our costs – in conjunction with the Friends of All Saints’ Church, mail Martin King if you might be able to help.

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Safeguarding

We are committed to Safeguarding Children, Young People, Victims/perpetrators of Domestic Abuse and Vulnerable Adults.

The PCC has adopted the Church of England’s policies and best practice on safeguarding, which may be found on the Church of England’s website at 
https://www.churchofengland.org/more/safeguarding

Our Parish Safeguarding Officer is Judith Sabine, who may be contacted at church or by email at judithsabine@btinternet.com

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Churchyard rules

The graveyard at All Saints' Church and its Garden of Remembrance (in and around which ashes are interred) are subject to rules imposed by the Diocese of Chelmsford. Click HERE to download the diocesan Churchyard Handbook (in pdf format) that applies to all churchyards in the area. Similar rules are common across England.

On this site: Stock Churchyard and Garden of Remembrance

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