The 1574 date on the remains of the Chantry Chapel at Belchamp Walter

My theory that the date (picture coming soon) is that as a consequence of Queen Elizabeth's continuation of the Tudor Reformation.

The carving of the date looks more like grafitti than something that was there orginally. In any case the date of 1574 is in keeeping with the antics of ER1 in the acquistion of wealth and the suppression of the Catholic faith. The removal of the chantry chapel possibly coincided with the removal of the root screen from the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Belchamp Walter.

The inventory of 1574

According to Richard Starky in his book Elizabeth (Vintage), Elizabeth decreed that all Church plate, idols and other parapheniala connected to papism be removed from parish churches.

The Old Church Guide (1960's) states that Queen Elizabeth was the patron of St. Mary's in 1580.

The chantry arch was further defaced in the 1640's when the puritans removed even more "popery" from the Churches.

Edward de Vere and 1575

According to Newcourt, Edward de Vere proposed the "folding away" of the Advowson of the Parish of Belchamp Walter in 1575.

Not only did Edward de Vere, who was "granted" the parish from the crown, have thoughts on the fate of St. Mary's Belchamp Walter it also had implications with regard to the de Vere family seat at Castle Hedingham. The "businesses" of Mary Queen of Scots and Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, threatened the inheritance of their estates.