---
title: "St Edmund King & Martyr, Mersea Island"
description: "Located in Mersea Island, Essex. Built 12th or 13th century origin; 14th-century nave, chancel and tower; 15th-century north aisle. Diocese of Chelmsford. Grade I. Decorated and Perpendicular style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Church of England","Essex","Mersea Island","Grade I","Perpendicular","East Mersea"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/st-edmund-king-martyr-mersea-island"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T02:17:52.723Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-08T16:00:06.382Z"
location: "Mersea Island, Essex"
country: "England"
county: "Essex"
town: "Mersea Island"
address: "Church Lane, Mersea Island, Essex, CO5 8TJ"
postcode: "CO5 8TJ"
built: "12th or 13th century origin; 14th-century nave, chancel and tower; 15th-century north aisle"
denomination: "Church of England"
dedications: ["Edmund"]
diocese: "Chelmsford"
grade: "I"
style: "Decorated and Perpendicular"
materials: "Coursed rubble and flint with flushwork; pegtiled roofs; oak south porch on red-brick walls"
website: "http://freshsalt.uk/churches/east-mersea/"
openingHours: "Sorry, there are no regular opening times for this church."
parish: "East Mersea St Edmund"
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1239659"
gridReference: "TM 050 141"
accessNotes: "Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets in church"
---

# St Edmund King & Martyr, Mersea Island

St Edmund King and Martyr is a Grade I parish church on Church Lane, East Mersea, on Mersea Island, Essex, in the Diocese of Chelmsford.

## Overview

Historic England records a church of twelfth- or thirteenth-century origin, with a fourteenth-century chancel, nave and west tower and a fifteenth-century north aisle and chapel. The four-stage west tower is of coursed rubble and flint with flushwork dedication crosses and a chequered plinth, angle buttresses and a north-east octagonal stair turret. Nave and chancel have pegtiled roofs; the nave parapet is embattled. The south porch, of oak on red-brick ground walls with Doric columns, dates from about 1680. The tower arch, five-bay north arcade and chancel arch, with four-lobe mouldings, are dated about 1362–71.

Fittings include a fifteenth-century octagonal font with blank arcading and a mid-seventeenth-century octagonal pulpit with sounding board. Sabine Baring-Gould, author of the hymn “Onward, Christian Soldiers”, was rector here from 1871 to 1881.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1239659](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1239659)
- [Fresh Salt: East Mersea](http://freshsalt.uk/churches/east-mersea/)