For those of us living in North America or Australia (ie: anyone far away from Essex) we cannot do much to support the parishes where our ancestors lived in the UK. St Mary's Wix was the home parish of my family from the mid 16thC until the end of the 18thC. As such I wanted to help and to pass this offer along to other members of the Essex List who might wish to search these church records and might be willing to help the Church in some small way. David Vesey Toronto Canada /_Reference_ / Interest in the little church of St.Mary The Virgin, Wix, Essex ,England comes from near and far with /The Friends of St. Mary'/s joining in a mutual concern to maintain it's presence for spiritual, historical, architectural and family reasons. The original church, dedicated to St Mary The Virgin, was built in the late 11th or early 12th century by Walter the Deacon, the Domesday owner of The Manor of Wix, Park Hall. The foundations of the original chancel were discovered in 1961. Around the year 1123 this church, together with its tithes, was given as part of the foundation gift for a priory of Benedictine Nuns, built to the south of the church. The nave was rededicated to St Michael and was for the use of the parishioners. In 1525 Cardinal Wolsey obtained a Papal Bull for the suppression of the pnory; the buildings were demolished, together with the chancel of the church leaving the nave of the church for the use of the parishioners. A new church was built in 1744 out of the ruins of this earlier building. When completed it was dedicated to St Michael. Early in 1884 it was decided to refurbish the building, a surveyor's report having found that the walls and foundations were not substantial enough to justify any more money being spent on maintaining the structure and the present building, dedicated to St Mary The Virgin was opened on 12th April 1888. (The remains of the 12th C arches are still visible on the left side of the attached photo ( /http://www.essexchurches.com/ )/ _/Friends of St. Mary's Church Wix /_ Friends of St. Mary's have already contributed generously both financially and practically but to keep this historic church and churchyard safe for future generations more help is needed. Friends of the Church receive a detailed history of the church and church-yard and a monthly e-mail copy of the local parish magazine giving news of the village and church. In addition,for a small search fee, we can search for details of your relatives and ancestors from the births, marriages and deaths registers which date from 1560. The churchyard grave inscriptions have also been surveyed. _/Joining The Friends /_ Joining the Friends costs a very small fee - all directly payable to the Wix Parish Council. If you would like more info re helping the Church or to have the detailed Church records searched please e-mail Don in Colchester Essex : chriswithdon@btinternet.com / /