For more than a thousand years there has been a church on the site of Saint Mary's, Prittlewell. When the Saxons settled here, soon after the Roman Legions left Britain, they found a fine dry site overlooking the river Thames with a fresh water stream - the Prittle brook - and good grazing land nearby.
There is archaeological evidence that a small chapel was erected on the site of the present church in the 7th century. A portion of the Saxon doorway of that tiny chapel remains today as part of the north wall of the chancel.
For four hundred years or so the small Saxon chapel served the developing village of Prittlewell. Indeed, perhaps the 'Saxon King' whose burial tomb was discovered near Priory Park worshipped here? (See GC4YQ95)
In the 11th century the Norman nave was built which greatly enlarged the building and the chancel of the new church was built over the foundations of the old Saxon chapel. The church at Prittlewell is mentioned in the Doomsday Survey of 1086.
During the reign of Henry I, the lord of the manor, Fitzsweyne, also known as Robert d' Essex, gave the church at Prittlewell, plus some 30 acres of land it possessed, and also the chapels at Sutton and Eastwood, to the Cluniac Priory of St Pancras of Lewes. The reason for this generous gift was for the maintenance of a priory soon to be established at Prittlewell. This was between the years 1110 and 1120, and about the same time extensive improvements and alterations were carried out to the church. As the centuries passed and the priory gained in importance so Prittlewell village grew too to service both the manor and the priory.
Towards the end of the 12th century a processional aisle was added to the south side of the nave. The south aisle was enlarged and completed in the late 15th century, almost doubling the size of the church.
In the 15th century the magnificent tower was built together with a porch and an eastern wall that now forms part of the Jesus Chapel.
Until the 18th century the land to the south of Prittlewell was agricultural. However by 1790 the area beside the sea at the South End of Prittlewell began to be developed as a bathing resort for the wealthy and fashionable of London and in 1889 a new road was opened between the village cross-roads, where stood the church and the public house opposite, and the centre of the new town of Southend-on-Sea. In 1892 Southend became a Borough and took on responsibility for the administrative affairs of Prittlewell.
Prittlewell still retains its individual character and signs of its past history. The remains of the Cluniac Priory still stand beside the Prittle Brook. Some of the original 9 public houses in the village remain. The 15th century houses and shops immediately opposite the west face of Saint Mary's, and the shop which stood on the corner, once a ruin but now splendidly restored, are still there.
And the Church of Saint Mary, which has undergone many difficult times and many changes, has stood in this place for more than a thousand years.
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