About Wennington Parish Church

The Church of St Mary and St Peter has had a presence in the small village of Wennington for over 800 years and is still an active place of worship, with a small congregation meeting regularly. The present church was built around 1190-1248AD and has been added to since. The tower is at the West end of the chancel to the East. Entry to the church is by way of the porch on the North side of the building that dates from the late 1800s. The date of the first church on the site, the Saxon one, is difficult to pin down. Certainly there was a church at Wennington by 1042-1044, when Edward the Confessor confirmed the Parish as belonging to Westminster Abbey.

A charity called Friends of Wennington Church was formed when the church, a Grade II* listed building, was threatened with redundancy due to it being in a state of disrepair. The Parochial Church Council at that time could not see how the necessary repairs could be paid for. Fundraising started, and with grants from English Heritage and other bodies such as Essex Over The Border, work commenced on essential roofing works. Slowly, the building was restored to a sound state of repair. Friends of Wennington Church disbanded in 2016, and their role has subsequently been passed on to Friends of Essex Churches.