Essex’s fire control room received more than a dozen emergency calls reporting a blaze near to one of the county’s largest medieval churches.

Five crews from the county were sent to tackle the fire, which broke out at the Oka furniture shop in Church Street, Saffron Walden, and spread to an adjoining flat.

Firefighters were despatched just after 3pm yesterday and arrived to find the fire was in the roof of the three storey building, which measured around 15x15m.

Church Street, which is home to St Mary’s Church, the largest non-cathedral church in Essex, was closed to traffic.

By 4pm, firefighters reporting making “good progress” tackling the fire, though parts of the roof had collapsed.

The incident was scaled down after 6pm, while two engines remained at the scene to check for hot spots.

“The cause of the fire in unknown at this stage,” a fire service spokesman said.

“An investigation will be carried out.”