Michael's Church, (The last service was held there in 1983). Michael's tower dates back to the 16th century and is the only part of the church remaining. This forms an imposing landmark on Pitsea Mount, and is still used as the venue for the parish's Easter sunrise service, held Easter Sunday at 7am. The Choir Vestry/Chapel contains St. Michael's Mothers Union and Sunday School Banners as well as
a picture of St. Michael's in its prime and the Communion silver from St. Michael's is now used regularly at St. Gabriel's. Also from St. Michael's is the light oak memorial Lectern, remembering the men of Pitsea who fell in the Great War, and can be seen in St. Gabriel's Sanctuary. On the supporting column is a carving of St. Michael depicted as a knight with his foot upon a serpent. Rectors of Pitsea at Saint Michael's on the Mount
from, 1311 until 1964. St Gabriel's from 1964 until 1983. Nicholas ?1311
Adam at Holme 1327
John Carre 1329
William Bayle ? Thomas Bradmere 1396
John Hogham 1397 (April)
John Thursteyne 1397 (Dec)
Thomas Taylour 1399
Henry Frost 1400/1
William Weston 1 ? Richard Byrd 1426/7
John Subrost 1427/8
Michael Vint ? Alexander Walton 1438/9
Michael Garston 1442
Simon Knight ? Richard Moore 1450
Reginald Poynes 1453
Thomas Rooke 1466/7
Richard Hagys 1473
Thomas Moyse 1484
William Conyngton 1485
Edward Mariner 1488
William Browne 1498
William Marberry 1518/9
John Hardeman 1524
Robert Davys 1533/4
Thomas Washington 1562/3
Marcus Sympson 2 1564
Roger Austen 1582
Henry Gould 1586? Robert Hewetson 3 1588
William Armitage 1629/30
Abraham Mountague 1629/30
John Berridge (Beveridge) c1647
Robert Whichcot 1654
John Davis 1655/6
Anthony Edmunds ?1659
Joshua Long 1664 or 1669
Nathaniel Ward 1670
William Hill 1688/9
Roger Woodcock 4 1709
John Bunce 1738
Benjamin Bulkley 1742
Thomas Fairchild 1757
Charles Hewitt 5 1798
Lawrence Tucker Edwards 1849
Henry Hasted 1861
Arthur Bertram Hutton 6 1901
David Thomas 1914
Llewelyn Cradock Roberts 1923
Ernest William Grevatt 7 1924
Henry Bursell 1936
John Osborne Nicholls 1939
Alfred Stretton 1943
Edward Herbert Morgan Gibbon 1948
David Owen Raymond Parry 1950
Norman Wilson Woodrow 1954
Arthur Ernest Harvey 1963
Aubrey Ridge 1975
Laurence Blaney 1982
Notes
1) In 1402 the Sheriffs of London arrested William, the parson of Pitsea and his servant John, who were "notorious thieves and lie in wait to kill and spoil the king's lieges as has been testified before the king and council".
2) Marcus Sympson preached only one sermon in the year 1569 and he was ordered to procure four sermons in the year by some learned preacher and for every Sunday or Holy Day that the parishioners should miss a service he was to pay 3 farthings to the poor. Some sources gives the amount as 3s 4d.
3) Robert Hewetson, according to the Minutes of the Archdeacon's Court, was suspected of being incontinent with his maid, Helen Tate.
4) Roger Woodcock failed to keep any registers during his incumbency. The first entry in the burial register records his burial in the churchyard at St. Michael's.
5) Charles Hewitt of Greensted near Colchester left money for the poor of Pitsea.
6) Arthur Hutton was keen ornithologist.
7) Ernest Grevatt was responsible for the purchase in 1928 of land adjacent to the then Rectory in Rectory Road. He returned from retirement to lay the foundation stone of St. Gabriel's Church in 1965. The adjacent residential home was named after him. Not all the above are named on the board displayed in St. Gabriel's Church.
