About

The Grade II Listed church dedicated to St Thomas the Apostle was originally built in the 14th century of which the chancel and the font still exist. The nave was rebuilt in 1706 and the handsome brick tower in 1743. The tower now has eight bells that are rung each Friday and Sunday. The medieval timber porch, originally part of Shopland Church, was brought here in 1960.

There is a very interesting parish cage in the corner of the churchyard and a horse mounting block near the south gate.
For services and other information see the website.

Inside the church is the main War Memorial, a marble plaque that commemorates the fallen servicemen of both the First and the Second World War, and a local civilian, 19-year-old Joan Baker, who died along with 38 others when a German V-2 rocket destroyed the Hoffmann factory in Chelmsford where she worked during the Second World War. (For more information visit chelmsfordwarmemorial.co.uk/second-world-war/chelmsford/ww2-baker-vera-joan.html).

In the churchyard stands the Grade II Listed Roll of Honour Memorial, a granite obelisk on a three-stepped plinth that was donated by Clement Parker (1864-1923) of Peakes Farm, Bradwell-on-Sea. It commemorates all those who served in the First World War, with 112 names in total. The obelisk was conserved in 2012, funded by War Memorials Trust, Bradwell Parish Council and the Parochial Church Council.

The churchyard is also home to two Commonwealth War Graves. The first, a memorial cross in the old part of the churchyard, remembers local lad Second Lt Percy Dolph Parker who was born in the village and died in 1918 aged 21 while serving with the Royal Flying Corps. The second memorial is to Flying Officer William Marshall Poupore from the Royal Canadian Air Force 418 Sqdn, based at Bradwell Bay, who died in 1942 aged 20 and has a CWG headstone in the newer cemetery extension.