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Several passengers on the Mayflower came from Essex. Christopher Martin, who was originally the governor of the leaky Speedwell, was at one time a churchwarden in Great Burstead – though went on to get himself in trouble for dissenting from the Anglican church’s ceremonies.
In 1995, the 375th anniversary of the voyage, a plaque was put on the boundary wall of the parish church, St Mary Magdalen, and unveiled in a small ceremony by two American descendants of the Mayflower. Embossed with a carving of the Mayflower, the text reads:
‘Christopher Martin
sometime
Churchwarden of this Parish,
Pilgrim Provisioner
and treasurer of the Mayflower Community
Plymouth New England USA
1620’
The tablet also commemorates Bob Carpenter, another Churchwarden and local historian who had died the previous year.
In 2004, a stained glass window (designed and made by Matthew Lloyd-Winder) depicting a Mayflower-esque ship was put in the Lady Chapel in memory of the long-time churchwarden Sammy Norris (1910-1978).