Pleshey

This will be the last visit for a while due to work commitments, Christmas and the fact that I'm currently, quite literally, snowed under - I can't quite believe that last week's visit was chilly but clear and today I'm surrounded by snow.

Holy Trinity is a cruciform church and is stunning; I particularly liked a rather strange buttress and the octagonal tower on the tower.

William the Conqueror gave Pleshey, in the parish of High Easter, to Geoffrey de Mandeville in appreciation of his services; Mandeville was one of William's battle commanders at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Mandeville built his caput (centre of administration and main home) at Pleshey, one of the many villages in Essex given to him by the king. Later his grandson, another Geoffrey, was made Earl of Essex by Stephen.

Pleshey Castle was originally a motte and bailey which was surrounded by a moat. Later, probably in the 12th century, the motte was replaced with a stone built castle. The motte at Pleshey is now about 15 metres high and is one of the largest mottes in England. The castle was dismantled in 1158 but was subsequently rebuilt at the end of the 12th century.

After the castle had passed to the Dukes of Gloucester through marriage, and the incumbent Duke had been executed by Richard II in 1397, it decayed and became ruined. Most of the masonry was dismantled for building material in 1629, leaving just the motte and other earthworks.

For a long time Pleshey Castle had an important place in English history. Through inheritance Pleshey Castle became the main castle of Humphrey de Bohun, 1st Earl of Hereford, and his wife, Maud, sister and heiress of William de Mandeville, Earl of Essex. From this marriage Bohun's son Humphrey became Earl of Essex (27 Aug 1236) as well as Earl of Hereford and Hereditary Constable of England. Generations of de Bohuns resided here, with Pleshey as their caput manor. A later Humphrey de Bohun (4th Earl of Hereford and 3rd of Essex (1276-1322) on 14 Nov 1302 married Elizabeth Plantagenet, the daughter of Edward I. Some of their children were born at Pleshey. Humphrey was killed at the Battle of Boroughbridge in 1322, in the rebellion against Edward II.

In 1327 Pleshey Castle became the primary residence of Humphrey’s eldest surviving son, John Bohun, created Earl of Hereford and Essex. He died in 1336 without an heir and the castle passed to his brother, Humphrey, Earl of Hereford and Essex (d. 1361). The youngest of the brothers, William Bohun (d. 1360), became the leading commander of the early part of the Hundred Years War, devising the tactics that won English victories at the Battle of Morlaix (1342), the Battle of Crecy (1346) and the Siege of Calais (1347), and was created Earl of Northampton.

Humphrey never married and Pleshey was inherited in 1361 by William's son and heir, Humphrey Bohun (b. 1342), last male heir of the direct line. This Humphrey inherited both his uncle's and his father's titles and became Earl of Hereford, Essex and Northampton. His only heirs at his death on 13 Jan 1373 were two infant daughters, Eleanor and Mary. Humphrey's 2nd cousin Gilbert de Bohun who died in 1381 was over looked so the titles and lands that should of passed to him, and his heir, where retained by the daughters husbands.

Between 1361 and 1384 a group of Augustinian friars created the de Bohun manuscripts at Pleshey Castle; eleven books, one of them a Psalter, celebrating Mary de Bohun's marriage to Henry Bolingbroke, the future Henry IV. The Mary de Bohun Psalter is now in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Mary, who died before her husband became king, was the mother of Henry V, of Agincourt fame.

The castle then passed (through the marriage of Eleanor) to Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, the youngest son of Edward III. His nephew, Richard II, outraged by his uncle's opposition, had him arrested at Pleshey and taken to France.

Two years later the Duke of Exeter was taken to Pleshey Castle and executed for plotting against the king.

Pleshey Castle's claim to fame includes Shakespeare's play, Richard II, in which the widow of Richard asks Edmund of York:

“Hid him - O, what? With all good speed at Plashy visit me. Alack, and what shall good old York there see, But empty lodgings and unfurnished walls, unpeopled offices, untrodden stones?”

Sadly it is a disappointing interior but this in no way detracts from the exterior. 

HOLY TRINITY. 1868 by Chancellor. The only remains of the medieval church are the crossing arches to the N, S, and W. They are of c. 1400. The unusual plan is due to the foundation of a college of priests at Pleshey in 1393. Chancellor gave his church a picturesque and restless S show front. The distinguishing feature is the stair turret at the E end of the crossing tower. - MONUMENTS. Samuel Tufnell of Langleys, Great Waltham 1758. Standing wall monument with excellent portrait on top of a straightsided sarcophagus and in front of a grey obelisk. By Rysbrack. - Sir William Joliffe d. 1749. Epitaph with big urn, Rocaille ornament and three cherubs heads at foot.

PLESHEY in 1397 witnessed one of the strangest scenes in history. Before the castle appeared Richard the Second at the head of a company of nobles and trained bands from London with whom he had marched throughout the night to arrest his uncle Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester. He was John of Gaunt’s brother, youngest son of Edward the Third, lord of the estate through his wife Eleanor, who was heiress of the last of the Bohuns, one of Shakespeare’s tragic figures.

Eleven years older than the king, at whose coronation he carried the sceptre, Thomas, succeeding his wife’s father as Constable of England and created Duke of Gloucester, saw service at sea and in France, helped to suppress the Essex peasants who rose in revolt with Wat Tyler, and conspired against his brother Gaunt, whom he did not forgive for marrying his son, the future Henry the Fourth, to Eleanor’s younger sister, of whose revenues Gloucester had hoped to remain master by inducing her to enter a convent. Fierce, unscrupulous, and avaricious, Gloucester took advantage of Richard’s corrupt and lawless rule to head a movement which threatened the king with dethronement, secured the removal and execution of the royal favourites, and greatly enriched himself.

Richard bided his time for ll years, then, scenting another conspiracy, struck suddenly, and came with his forces to seize him at Pleshey. Gloucester came out from the castle at the head of the ecclesiastics of the collegiate church he had established, and Richard forced him into the chapel to hear mass. Then the wretched man was seized and shipped to Calais, where he confessed treason and made a moving appeal for mercy. Soon afterwards he was seized at dinner and suffocated. The body was brought to England and lies in Westminster Abbey. In 1808, the grave being opened, the skeleton in its leaden coffin was seen, and was reburied near the faithful duchess.

Flickr set.

Hatfield Peveral

St Andrew was a huge disappointment, first it was locked with no keyholder listed, second the sun was in the wrong place so decent pictures were nigh on impossible and thirdly I'd actually researched the priory and so knew that locked away was a treasure trove of an interior.

Pause, take deep breath and avoid ranting.....I succeed but refer readers to earlier comments on locked churches particularly Simon Jenkins viewpoint.

That said this is an intriguing remnant of the old priory which is a hodgepodge of architectural styles - I'll let Arthur write it up since he managed to get inside.

UPDATE: My route home took me through Hatfield Peveral and on the off chance I stopped at St Andrew which has always been locked on previous visits. This time, however, it was open albeit only because of what appeared to be extensive restoration work and the builders let me wander around.

I have to say that I was quite disappointed but that was mainly due to low light levels, it was quite late on an overcast misty afternoon, and all the building equipment obscuring some of the more interesting bits like some great early glass in the Lady chapel and south aisle and the stone effigy in the north aisle.

Having said that I did at least get in!

ST ANDREW. Hatfield Peveral possessed a Benedictine priory, a cell of St Albans Abbey. The whole present parish church is the nave of the priory church, with a C15 N aisle and a S aisle of 1873 added. The nave was followed by a central tower and transepts. Of the priory chancel nothing exists now, of the S transept the E wall of the Vestry, of the central tower the W arch, plain and clearly of the early C12, and some wall stumps of the N and S walls. Of the nave the W wall survives, with a doorway with one order of columns with scalloped capitals and zigzag in the arch voussoirs. The S wall of the nave is also original (C13 lancet) to the point where the S aisle adjoins. Of the N wall of the nave one upper window, now above one of the N arcade arches, bears witness. The N arcade of octagonal piers with double chamfered arches is ascribed to the C15. In the N wall one early C14 and one C15 window, the others are C19. The brick battlements and stair turret are of c. 1500. - SCREEN (N arcade, E bay). Perp, with panel tracery. - BENCH-ENDS. Three in the chancel, poppyheads and heads of a King, a Queen etc. - STAINED GLASS. Small fragments of the C14 and C15 in N windows, larger pieces of the C16 to C18, largely foreign, in S windows. - W window by Kempe, 1895. - HELM, GAUNTLETS, SWORD and SPUR mid C17. - MONUMENTS In the chancel a tomb-chest of blue marble with very fine, elaborate quatrefoil decoration. - On the sill of a N window effigy of a man in civilian clothes holding his heart in his hands, c. 1300, badly preserved. - Various C18 and early C19 tablets, e.g. Arthur Dabbs d. 1750, with Rococo cartouche surrounded by flower and putti-heads. Also tablets by Thompson (1817) and Coulman (1818).

HATFIELD PEVERAL. Its church is the nave of the Norman priory church, to which has been added a 15th century aisle, a modern aisle, and a Tudor vestry of brick. The west doorway, a little window, and an arch over the altar are all Norman. A handsome building it is, the interior bright enough to display its old possessions. Part of a 15th century screen stands in the aisle, and Tudor craftsmanship of wood and iron is in the vestry door. There are two carved chairs of Charles Stuart’s days, and three remarkable 14th century bench—ends with traceried panels, poppyheads, and heads of men and women, a king, and a queen. Traces of colour are still to be seen on window-splays, niches, and columns; one column has a much faded scene of the Crucifixion painted about 1400.

There is old glass of every century from the 14th to the 18th, an unusual array. The oldest shows leaves and canopy work; there is a Tudor rose among other fragments; the arms of Queen Elizabeth and a shield showing the three mitres of Evesham Abbey; and some Flemish glass at its best in a window with James and John and a woman on her knees. It is said that much of the glass here was brought by John Wright, a London coachmaker who restored the church in 1760. He lived close by at the 18th century house called the Priory, and is believed to lie in a vault, which was once the wine cellar. A handsome modern screen encloses the pews belonging to the house.

The church has an altar tomb of the 16th century, and a brass showing John Allen of 1572 kneeling with one of his three wives and a group of children. But the most interesting monument is a sculpture lying on a windowsill, a man with his feet on a lion and his hands clasped over a heart. He is thought to be a 13th century man, but there is a tradition that the figure is that of Ingelrica, the English wife of Ralph Peverel, the Norman knight who founded the priory here.

The village post office and many of the cottages are 17th century, and so are two fine windows at Toppinghoe Hall, a mile and a half away. Its barn is a century older, and was part of an earlier hall. At Mowden Hall Farm is a tall dovecot of two storeys, with brick walls over a foot thick.

You've got to admit that this sounds like an intriguing interior.

Simon K -

Locked, no keyholder notice. I was expecting this. It is known as a fortress. 

Hatfield Peverel is a large housing estate dumped in the middle of nowhere. As soon as you step off the train, you know you are no longer in East Anglia. This is the South-East, the part of Essex indistinguishable from Kent.

The church is actually in the grounds of the Hall, but the estate has gathered itself around. The church is of little interest, except that it contains a number of 14th Century monuments and also some continental glass. It was the nave of a much larger priory church.

There was a car parked by the church, and when I looked through the glass of the porch I saw that the inner door was open and someone inside was arranging flowers! How mean-spirited! This probably tells you all you need to know about Hatfield Peverel. Fortunately, it was my last taste of inhospitality for some hours.

No doubt they will moan if they ever get a break-in. Basically a posh private venue for their Sunday club.

Flickr set.

Great Waltham

St Mary and St Lawrence is indeed great, in fact it is bloody enormous! It was locked when I visited but with keyholders listed, who were both unfortunately out. I resolved to return another day and when I read Mee and subsequently Googled it, that resolve was doubled and I will update this entry upon completion.

UPDATE: I've recently, Feb 2012, been told that the church is now open daily, so having been back three or four times and always finding it locked and the keyholders elusive, a more successful visit is on the cards.

UPDATE: or so I thought; I re-visited and found it locked with no available keyholders!

UPDATE: On the off chance I re-visited last Tuesday (March 6th) and to my delight found it open. It certainly lived up to my high expectations with something for everyone.

ST MARY AND ST LAWRENCE. Quite a large church with a substantial W tower, originally Norman, but strengthened with brick buttresses; nave and aisles, and chancel. In the nave Norman quoins of Roman brick can be seen. The aisles are outside all new. The N aisle was actually built in 1875, and the S aisle was severely restored. In the chancel also traces of Norman work with Roman bricks, the rest mostly restored. The nave is remarkably wide for a Norman village church. Plain Norman tower-arch. Perp S arcade of three bays with piers having demi-shafts towards the arches and a polygonal shaft without capital towards the nave. Good nave roof of alternating tie-beam and hammer-beam trusses. The hammerbeams with figures of angels. - BENCHES. About thirty with traceried, straight-headed ends. - PLATE. Silver-gilt Paten of 1521 engraved with the head of Christ; two Cups and a Paten of 1632. - MONUMENTS. Two Brasses of 1580 and 1617. - Monument to Sir Anthony Everard, erected in 1611 (T. K. Cromwell). Standing wall-monument with stiffly reclining figures of husband and wife on two shelves - that of the husband higher and behind - between pilasters carrying stone inscription tablets. Large coffered arch above with two small arched windows in the back wall the glass of which is considered by the Royal Commission to be original. Small figures of children on small tomb-chests on the ground in front.

Flickr set.

GREAT WALTHAM. It has not only a treasure-house in its church but is exceptionally fortunate in the number of old houses it has kept, the Historic Monuments Commission having noted more than 80 within the bounds of the parish. A rich heritage they are from the century that saw the coming of the Tudors, from the days of Queen Elizabeth and Shakespeare, from Cromwell’s time and Charles the Second’s.

Here is an Elizabethan house with ornamental plaster on its tall chimneys and original fireplaces; here an inn from the 15th century. Only a few minutes away is a lovely house with four gables, Hyde Hall, built about 1600, still with part of its moat and a thatched barn older than itself. And just outside this delightful village is the deer park of the Langleys, a house with amazing fireplaces and over-mantels and panelled ceilings in two 17th century rooms. In its grounds is a huge chestnut tree 300 years old. Langleys was the home of the Everards, whose monuments are in the church; but since 1685 it has belonged to the Tufnells, whose memorials we also see, good friends of Essex churches for over two centuries.

Watched over by a colossal pine in the churchyard, this church would thrill any lover of the old and beautiful. The tower, nave, and chancel were built by the sons of men who came to our shores with the Conqueror and have stood more than 800 years. Roman bricks are at the corners of the walls; others were used by the Norman masons in shaping windows now blocked. But there are Norman windows still shedding their light in the tower, and a neat little doorway about as old leads to the turret stairs. The tower arch is a little younger, about 1200.

The Tudor Age gave the church its clerestory, a graceful nave arcade, a porch, and some handsome roofs. The nave roof is enriched with angels and roses and faces; and the roof added to the 14th century aisle has bosses with shields and grotesque faces. The screen is modern, but the ancient furniture is still here. Some 30 seats have been in use 500 years, carved at the ends with tracery. We see a chair of the Stuart Age with a Tudor panel, carved with a helmet in a wreath. We can open a door with rich ironwork that has been opening since the 15th century, and go through its ancient doorway to the vestry, and see panels of a Tudor pulpit. We can look at the reading desk and see some delicate woodwork from the medieval screen. On the wall is a picture of an old wall-painting that has gone, showing Christ in Majesty with the angels adoring. There is a heraldic glass from the 14th and 17th centuries.

There are brass portraits of an unknown 16th century civilian; of Thomas Wiseman, one of his two wives, and some of his children, all as they were about 1580; and of Richard Everard and his wife in Jacobean costume. The arms of other Everards are on the chancel floor; but the best thing they have left behind is the great monument Sir Anthony was erecting when death took him in 1614. On it he and his wife lie, resting on their elbows, with shields round about. On pedestals on the floor in front lie two little boys in each other’s arms and a third alone.

Little can be told of Sir Anthony’s life, but it can hardly have been more thrilling than the crowded hours of little Hugh Everard, who perished on the Goodwin Sands when he was only 16. Leaving Felstead at 13, he helped to escort King William to Holland, and two years later was lighting against Spain. He died in 1703, and his memorial has a relief of a sinking ship.

Flickr.

Good Easter

St Andrew was locked with no sign of a keyholder perhaps not surprisingly since Good Easter is small, in fact the church seems too large for the village. I found this a pleasing church with its needle spire, quirky design and tree surrounded churchyard.

UPDATE: I found out recently that it is open from April to October so revisited [07.08.15] and found a dull interior with little of interest. Why a church should only be kept open in spring/summer months eludes me but I'm sure there are good ecclesiastical reasons.

A small flint and stone rubble church of Norman foundation. The nave is circa 1200. The chancel is of the C13 and was lengthened circa 1230 at the time the chancel arch was built. The south aisle was rebuilt and widened in the early C14. The south porch is of the C15. In 1885 the west end was severely damaged by fire and was largely rebuilt when the church was restored in 1886. There is a small bell turret with vertical boarding and a slender octagonal shingled broach spire. The chancel has wall arcading of 4 and 5 bays with a stone bench below (the north side is wood covered) and a moulded string course above. (Circa 1230 ). In the nave there are 2 blank half arches on each side of the chancel arch (also circa 1230). The north door is renewed but has the original lock and key. The roofs are tiled.

ST ANDREW. Nave and chancel; belfry with vertical weatherboarding and a tall thin shingled spire. The belfry rests on four posts with arched braces to the E and W as well as the N and S. The nave is of the C13, the chancel also, but a little later. The evidence is not easily understood. Early C13 W window, original internally. In the E wall two blank half arches of the same date. They must at first, in their complete form, have flanked a narrower, probably Norman chancel. Then the chancel was rebuilt and widened. That also, on the evidence of the Sedilia and Piscina, cannot have been later than c. 1240. The Piscina has typical shafts, the Sedilia and some blank wall arcading on the N side of the chancel has an odd alternation of arches continued below without any capitals, and arches carried on capitals ending in (Cistercian) corbels instead of shafts. The S arcade is a little later, c. 1300 or so. One circular and one octagonal shaft, moulded capitals and only slightly double-chamfered arches. The westernmost pier is the same but the arches are properly double-chamfered - perhaps a later repair. - STAINED GLASS. Bits of the C14 and C15 in two S aisle windows. - HELM. Probably late C16; chancel N wall. - BRASS of 1610.

GOOD EASTER. A timber spire, soaring above the trees 100 feet high points the way to this delightful old-world place in the valley of the River Can. It may be proud of its past history, for in the Middle Ages it belonged to St Martin’s-le-Grand, and Henry the Eighth gave it to Westminster Abbey. The have and the chancel are 13th century, and the aisle with its line arcade is from the 14th. An unusual feature of the chancel is the stone bench under the arcades along each wall. Among the small treasures of the church are a carved chair of Cromwell’s time, a tiny coffin lid of the 13th century, and (not so small) an old bassoon used in the choir 100 years ago. High on the wall above, resting on a corbel, is a dog's head with its tongue lolling out, the crest of the owner of the 16th century helmet above it. Margaret Norrington, whose brass is in the aisle, may have seen this great man’s funeral.

On the patch of green by the church is the old whipping-post.

Ford End

Another oddity here. I know in every bone of my body that I shouldn't like St John the Evangelist but like some guilty secret I have to admit that I find it rather appealing. All this visiting is plainly weakening my general dislike of Victoriana - a bit of a worry.

St John the Evangelist was locked with no sign of a keyholder so I can't provide an opinion, but I am fairly sure it would be negative.

UPDATE: I regular pass this way when visiting and equally often stop on the off chance it will be open and on my way back from the successful Great Waltham trip I decided to try my luck and found it open. As I suspected there's little to no interest inside but there is a rather nice Della Robbia style Madonna and Child plaque - the quality does not seem good enough for it to be the real thing - with Christ holding an apple.

ST JOHN THE EVANGELIST. 1871 by Chancellor; chancel added 1893 (GR). Tower with spire with an oddly broken outline, at the E end of the S aisle. It is adorned by large figures of the Evangelists at the angles. S aisle covered by the same big roof as the nave. Low one-light s aisle windows. Polygonal apse. The S porch of an unusual timber construction, not following medieval precedent. The main uprights lean towards the centre and are in fact straight braces. The brickwork inside the church is exposed.

Its entry on achurchnearyou.com reads: This lovely church (built in 1870 on an osier bed) was designed by Frederic Chancellor, with a super-confident catslide roof over the south aisle. The simple interior has wonderfully precise brickwork, a lovely arcade to the south aisle and windows of cathedral glass. It has a fine acoustic for the spoken word. The unstable ground led to the demolition of the east end (the foundations remain and, in my opinion, are interesting in themselves), and for many years the tower was believed unsafe for bell-ringing, but now our fine peal of 6 bells (the lightest of its type in Essex) rings out joyfully again. Statues of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John guard the corners of the tower. Inside we treasure the memorial to Rev’d Arthur Shearly Cripps, vicar here twice, who is revered as virtually a saint in Zimbabwe where he served as missionary. We also have Rolls of Duty & Honour listing villagers who volunteered to serve in WWI.

FORD END. If we are looking for quaintness we find it here. Not in the handsome modern church with its figures of the evangelists on the tower, but some way off, at the hamlet of North End, where a famous little building has been standing 500 years. Black Chapel it is called, and as with its dormer windows it looks like a cottage the traveller might easily pass it by. It is a little church with a house joining on, parts having been added in the 18th century, though the nave and chancel are medieval, and so is the dwelling where the old priest lived. The walls are timber-framed, and there is a bellcot with a pyramid roof. Some of the nave beams are medieval, and look down on two very different fashions in furniture, benches from Henry the Seventh’s time and box-pews from the 18th century. There are altar rails of the time of Queen Anne, whose painted arms hang over the tiny altar; a Tudor screen; and a barrel organ to remind us of the way they made music here 200 years ago.

I think its a bit cheeky of Mee to review Ford End by actually reviewing North End!

Flickr.

Chignal St James

I realised just in time that St James is nowadays a private residence - it should have been blindingly obvious, of course, a quick Google shows that the church of St James was de-consecrated in the late 1980s and internally rebuilt as a house.

The church of St James was originally built in the late 13th or early 14th century, but the church of St Mary, a much older structure, had disappeared by 1360 and the parish of St Mary was shared between James and Smealey.

ST JAMES. Nave, chancel, and C19 bellcote. The church was so much restored in the C19 that little evidence of interest remains except a two-light early C16 brick window in the chancel. - PLATE. Cup of 1667.

In Mee's day things were different of course: CHIGNAL ST JAMES. Fine wych elms cluster round its church, a simple building with walls thick enough to suggest that they were standing in Norman days; but older than anything else in the church are the Roman bricks picked up by the builders and worked into the walls. We come into the church by a 13th century doorway and find inside another doorway of much interest - that of the old roodstairs, which now lead to the pulpit. The oak arch of the doorway is carved in wood with the emblems of St James, a cockle shell and a fisherman’s creel. The roofs are a hundred years older, adorned with leaves and knots and stars; and in a window of the same age are modern figures of St Michael and St George in red and silver and gold. Half a mile away stands the hall with its projecting upper storey. On a wall-plate within it has the name of the man who built it in 1552, John Mason.

Chignal Smealey

To my utter amazement I found St Nicholas open, given its size and location I assumed it would be locked, so you can imagine my delight to find the opposite! I couldn't find the light switches, I suspect they are in the vestry, and it was gone 2pm on a gloomy winter afternoon so the church was quite dark. It must be said St Nicholas is a brick built gem of a church.

The church building is mainly Tudor brickwork, with the exception of the North Aisle which is later in period. The font is unique, being also of Tudor brick and is believed to be one of only two in the country.  A detailed history is usually available in booklet form at the church but was sadly sold out when I visited.

 

The parish is currently priestless, and has been since 2002, and is currently run by the two Churchwardens to whom, I suppose, we owe a large thank you for allowing the public access to their church.

 

ST NICHOLAS, Chignal Smealy. An all-brick church of the early C16. The brick is decorated with blue brick diapers. The view from the E is specially picturesque with three gables of different heights. The W tower is not tall. It has diagonal buttresses, battlements, and brick windows. Brick windows in nave and chancel as well. The E window is renewed; the N aisle was added in 1847. The two-bay arcade however is original and one of the rare cases of a complete brick arcade. Octagonal pier and four-centred arches. - FONT. Even the font is of brick, octagonal and quite undecorated, except for the moulding between stem and bowl. - SCREEN. Plain, one-light divisions with ogee arches. - PULPIT. Nice plain C17. - PLATE. Secular Cup of 1617 with chased bowl.

CHIGNAL SMEALEY. Brick Chignal it has been called, and not without reason, for we come here to admire the beautiful work of Tudor craftsmen who could make a church without stone. The whole structure is brick, even the 16th century font. The tower has pinnacles and a high parapet; the doors have been swinging on their hinges since the days of Shakespeare; the pulpit is a century younger, and the Tudor screen is carved with leaves and tiny roses. There are two piscinas of brick shaped and moulded like stone, and three brick niches enshrining tigures of Christ, a child, and a saint. The arcade and the aisle are of last century, and have not the rich warm glow of the Tudor brickwork. In two windows we see the oldest things in the village, oak leaves and foliage in glass 600 years old. Close to the church stands a 16th century house, still with an original fireplace.

 

Flickr set.

 

Broomfield

I have to admit to a certain ambivalence towards St Mary with St Leonard; on the one hand I love the exterior with its round tower and handsome nave and chancel but on the other I dislike the conical, shingled spire and the over-restored interior. However I was lucky when I visited since it is usually kept locked with no keyholder listed but a very nice lady was sorting out prayer requests and, I think, supervising a general churchyard work party and let me have a snoop.

Since there was no guide I'll let Mee expand.

ST MARY. Norman round tower with much Roman brick re-used. Low, with later shingled broach spire. Un-moulded round headed tower arch. Norman also both nave and chancel, see the Roman brick quoins on the S side. The chancel was lengthened and given its large E window in the C15. The N side of the church belongs to 1870. - FONT. Square, of Purbeck marble, C13 with three shallow blank pointed arches on each side and (an exception) angle shafts. - PLATE. The old plate has gone to a church at Margate.

I think I come down on the Yay side of the fence.

BROOMFIELD. Its soil has yielded up Stone Age weapons and many bits of Saxon England, but the oldest things visible are the Roman bricks used by the Norman builders of the church. They are in the nave doorway and in the tower windows, and they form the end of the Norman chancel which the 15th century builders extended. Parts of the church have been rebuilt in modern times, but the round tower has been standing 800 years, and is one of only six old round towers in Essex. It rises to a conical roof and a shingled spire with little gable lights. The font is about 700 years old; and hanging in the belfry is a clarinet, last used here in 1870. The chancel is the last resting-place of Patrick Younge, a friend of Charles Stuart, who lies under a stone carved with his arms. He was the king’s librarian, and died in the village; it is to him that Broomfield owes one of its treasures, a Bible Charles gave him.

Flickr set.

Boreham

St Andrew is lovely, and also hides a gem of a chapel to the Earls of Sussex, with an outstanding covered walkway to the south porch and really pleasing proportions which look like the intention was to create a cruciform church. Despite receiving the attentions of the Victorians for once they've not done left a disaster but a really pleasing church.

The Domesday Book refers only indirectly to a church in Boreham but there was certainly a large church here of which there are some impressive remains. The Saxon chancel arch is 20 feet high, and 10 wide. It is turned with Roman brick as is the niche to the north of it. The area under the tower was the Saxon Chancel, externally can be seen the Roman brick quoins of its north-east and south-east corners. Also outside can be seen the Roman brick quoins marking the north-east and south-east corners of the Saxon Nave. The first fifteen feet of the tower are Saxon work, including possibly the two windows in the ground floor stage.

When the Normans took over they cut on arch in the east wall of the chancel, turning it with Roman brick, and pushed the chancel out eastwards. The theory is that they thickened the walls of the old chancel on the inside and raised the tower. An ancient aumbry can be seen in the thickness of the wall. They built an internal staircase at the south-west corner. The simple doorway to it is now sealed. A second Norman doorway can be seen over the chancel arch. This and a third one, not visible in the church, can be seen best in the Ringing Chamber.

The present Nave was built in the thirteenth century, right against the inside of the Saxon wall. It is sixty feet long and seventeen feet wide. North and south aisles were identical, five feet nine inches wide. The western section of the south aisle remains, its original west window can be seen, and on the north side what is left of the west lancet window of the north aisle. The Nave roof, of great expanse, swept down to cover the aisles. Just inside the door to the east is all that is left of the Holy Water Stoup of this period. Of this time too are all that remains of two beautiful consecration crosses on the imposts of the east Tower arch.

In the late thirteenth century a chapel was built into the east end of the south aisle. It is just over thirteen feet wide. Evidence of a window in the east wall can be seen. In the roof space over this, above the ceiling, there is a small circular window. A mutilated Piscina, its canopy hacked away, can be seen in the south wall. The Font is of this period. A comparison of its canopy and trefoil-headed arches with the piscina would suggest that they were by the same craftsman. The Font is unusual in that it has six sides, and straight sides, the bowl and the shaft are one. The tiles in its arches are Victorian. The windows, roof and ceiling of this Chapel were restored in 1909. This date can be seen in the windows.

Great changes were made in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. The old Norman chancel was rebuilt. A hermit's dwelling was attached to the north wall through which a squint was cut at an angle to focus on the high altar. This can be seen inside the church with traces of iron work on it, which appear to have been a grill. A pointed arch of the Decorated period was set in under the Saxon chancel arch. It is off centre to avoid breaking into the Norman stairway. The open timber arch (now glazed) is of this period. The south end of it is modern. The north aisle was built to be 13 feet wide, with a flat roof. Outside, forming the ends of the drip stones, are sculptured heads, showing the styles of hair and head-dress of the period. The easternmost window has the only woman depicted. It may be that the man and woman on this window are Lord and Lady of the manor, and perhaps donors of the new building. The great five-light Perpendicular window at the west end of the Nave was inserted at the end of the fourteenth century.

The will of Thomas Radcliffe, third Earl of Sussex, ordered the family tomb to be made, and the Chapel to contain it. The magnificent monument, partly of marble, has effigies of the first three Earls in alabaster. It was the work of Richard Stevens of Southwark, and cost nearly three hundred pounds. The parapet of the Tower, which is five feet high, is of Tudor brick and was added, or rebuilt, in the mid-sixteenth century by the third Earl. Of the Tudor and Elizabethan periods there are a simple Parish Chest of oak, a bench and a joined stool.

A Brass of 1573 to Alse Byng was set up by her son Isaac. It shows a woman in clothes of the period, and her six children below - one boy and five girls, each child having its name inscribed above its head. The monogram in a Tudor knot is from the initials of son Isaac. The slab was formerly in the floor of the nave. The brass was cleaned and repaired in 1987. When it was removed it was found to be o palimpsest, the reverse being of the mid-fifteenth century.

About the middle of the nineteenth century it was decided that the Sussex Chapel was in a dilapidated condition. It was taken down and rebuilt half the original size. The Tyrell vault was built on the north-side of the chancel, new doorways were built south of the Tower and to the Ringing Chamber. The old Norman access inside was sealed. The whole of the eastern part of the church was restored. The lower part of the walls was painted deep purple with a broad band of green and grey stencilling. The windows all had coloured glass. It must have been very dark and gloomy. The floor of the chancel and sanctuary was paved with beautiful tiles of Maw and Company.

The final piece of building was about 1900. It is the Vestry adjoining the Porch to the west.

Early in the twentieth century extensive restoration was carried out. The root of the nave was entirely reconstructed. It was at this time that the great Saxon chancel arch was discovered, and the smaller Saxon arch to the north of it. In this latter is built a stone cap from which the chancel arch sprang, and a fifteenth century piscina, or perhaps rather, niche or little cupboard. The original foundation of the north wall of the nave, probably the Saxon one, was discovered in 1969. It was three feet three inches deep and two feet six inches wide. It is outside the present line of arches and pillars. At this time too the Saxon arch was completely uncovered.

The best glass in the church is seen in the two windows in the ground floor stage of the Tower. It is Victorian and was put there in 1980. The window in the south wall of the chancel is good. It contains the Trinitarian Symbol and is a memorial to Charles Haselfoot 1863. The great west window is by Lavers Barraud and Westlake and is dated between 1870 and 1880. The stonework was restored in 1957 as part of war damage repairs. The third window from the west in the north aisle contains a small medallion of the Annunciation recovered from glass broken when the Church was damaged by bomb-blast in 1940. The fourth from the west is a memorial to Sir John Tyssen Tyrell, 1878. It portrays Christ healing the sick. It is of little merit. The same must be said of the west window in the north wall of the chancel. It is to Charles J. Tyrell, 1858. The subject is the Baptism of Christ. The other window in this wall is no better. It is in memory of John Roberts Spencer Phillips and Anna Maria, his wife, 1878. It shows Christ with Mary and Martha, the Empty Tomb, and Christ walking on the Sea. The east window, now of plain glass, the original being damaged during the war, retains its former inscription at the base:

"In memory of Charles John Way, M.A., Vicar of Boreham. Died November 9th, 1873. And of G. Gregory Way, B.N.I., murdered at Allahabad 6th June, 1857.”

About the year 1843 a covered way from the Porch to the road was erected by Colonel Tufnell Tyrell for the marriage of his daughter. The present Ambulatory, designed by Mr. A.Y. Nutt, is a memorial to Canon H.E. Hulton who died in 1923.

The pulpit is Victorian and has little to commend it apart from its simplicity. The lectern, with figures of the four Evangelists, was carved by Nevill Tufnell, an ancestor of the Tufnells of Langleys at Great Waltham. The carving of St. Andrew on the book desk may also be his work.

Among its other memorials the church has four Hatchments, three to the Haselfoot family, and one to Tyrell. The heraldry in them is well worth studying. Four Vicars: Marple, Newcomen, Butterfield and Bullock, are commemorated by large floor slabs. Note also the stone to Richard Collins, Harbinger to King Charles II. It was brought in from the churchyard. There are other interesting stones in the chancel and Sussex Chapel. The slabs at the east end of the north aisle were brought in from the churchyard in 1969.

The Screens are both a mixture of periods. The one under the Tower was put there in 1904. The upper part is of the fifteenth century, the rest is modern, carved by Mary Woodhouse, and put together by Mr. Knight, the village carpenter. It is not in its original position. A photograph of circa 1860 shows it at the east end, behind the Altar. The screen at the west end of the north aisle has mediaeval carving in the spandrels, the lower part has Tudor panelling, and may have come from the box-pews. The whole is framed in modern work.

ST ANDREW. The appearance from the street is most curious - more curious than beautiful. Nave and aisles, but the S aisle first narrow, and then, E of the S Porch (timber, with six-arched openings on the W and E sides) wider. Then the building recedes considerably so as to expose the sheer wall of the Norman tower, a central tower. The chancel follows, as narrow as the tower, but widening into the late C16 Sussex Chapel. On the N side which roughly, but far from exactly, corresponds to this chapel is the Tufnell Chapel of 1800.* The tower has a staircase in the thickness of the wall which projects into the interior, Norman windows on the ground floor to the N and S and a complete E arch of the plainest. Of the W arch the Roman brick voussoirs remain above the C14 chancel arch. Higher up are doorways to the E and W, and two-light windows to the N and S with a middle shaft with block capital. The bell-openings are similar but pointed. The battlements are brick. A pyramid roof crowns the tower. Chronologically the nave and S aisle - the narrower part - follow, see the W lancet of the S aisle, and the square chamfered arcade piers (also of the N arcade) and pointed only slightly chamfered arches, no doubt cut out of the solid Norman nave walls. Yet there is a Roman brick arch partly revealed in the E wall of the N aisle in line with the arcade which is hard to explain, unless the Norman nave was wider than it is now. The arch probably held a side altar. The S aisle has in its wider parts early C14 windows of two cusped lights with a cinquefoil in a circle above. The chancel is contemporary, as shown by the cusped lancet windows on the N and S. The N aisle windows are C15, large and plain, with panel tracery - three lights on the N, five lights on the W side. A five-light Perp window also at the W end of the nave. - FONT. Early C14, hexagonal, no distinction of stem and bowl, each side with a gabled blank cusped arch. - SCREENS. Under the E tower arch and at the W end of the N aisle. The latter very plain, the former with each division of three lights, the centre one wider and with a crocketed cusped ogee head. The top straight. - PLATE. Cup of 1699. - MONUMENT. To three Radclifs, Earls of Sussex, d. 1542, 1567, and 1583. Alabaster. All three recumbent on one tomb-chest. By Richard Stevens of Southwark, completed 1589.

BOREHAM. It is famous for a palace built by Henry the Eighth, still a great house, approached through a mile of limes. One of the finest homes in Essex, New Hall stands nearly 90 yards wide with two projecting wings and six bays. The splendour of the windows amazes us as we approach, and the spectacle of this wonderful facade brings up in the mind a picture of the pageantry of the days in which it came into being. It was part of the estate seized by the king from the father of Anne Boleyn after her head had fallen on Tower Hill, but most of the structure as we see it was built by Thomas Radcliffe, Earl of Sussex, to whom the estate was given by Queen Elizabeth. There is a eulogy to her under the stone sundial on the parapet, above the great doorway flanked by pilasters and decorated with stars and porcupines.

On a painted stone panel are the arms of Henry the Eighth supported by a greyhound and a dragon, and the stone has an inscription telling us that Henry built this magnificent work. One of his gateways with two fine arches is still here. New Hall is now a convent, having been converted into a home for refugees from France in the l8th century, but into its history come many famous names. George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, bought it for £30,000 and Oliver Cromwell for next-to-nothing, but Oliver liked it not and changed it for Hampton Court. The house thus passed to General Monk, who might have been King of England but brought back the Stuarts instead; having made the great sacrifice he lived here in splendour with his wife, the farrier’s daughter.

Here, long before their days, Henry had celebrated the Feast of St George and Merrie England, and here his two daughters lived after him. Here Mary Tudor entertained Lady Jane Grey, whose death warrant she was to sign a few years later, and here Elizabeth spent five days as queen.

There is an old house called Porters built 500 years ago, two 16th century farms, and the 18th century Boreham House facing a long lake flanked by a double row of elms. The church is mainly 13th and 14th century. It has a fine central tower standing much as the Normans left it, with Roman tiles framing their small windows, but with a 17th century parapet. The arch facing the nave shows the Roman tiles mixed with stones which the Normans used in their arch, and below them is a 14^th century arch. In the thickness of the walls of one corner of the tower runs a spiral stairway to the belfry. We come into the church through a porch with much medieval timber in its walls, the porch carried on to the gate as a shelter for the congregation.

The church is rich in fine possessions. In the Sussex Chapel lie three bearded Earls of Sussex in elaborate armour, the first a favourite courtier of Henry the Eighth, the second a Chief Justice under Mary Tudor, the third a patron of letters and a soldier. Their swords are broken and they have lost the metal chains once round their necks, but each one wears the garter, and at the feet of each is an ape in a quaint hat, while behind their cushioned heads are oxen wearing collars looking like crowns. There is a brass portrait of Alse Byng, an Elizabethan lady in a close-fitting cap and puffed sleeves kneeling with her family of six.

The font is 14th century, with panels of painted flowers in vases; there is medieval craftsmanship in a screen of six bays in the tower and a screen with twelve heads in the aisle; and also from medieval comes the scratch dial on a corner of the south wall.

A gift of the manor by Queen Elizabeth to a worthy servant made Boreham the home and last resting-place of the Radcliffes, Earls of Sussex. The family rising to power during the Wars of the Roses, the head of the house was made Baron Fitzwalter. His son joined the rising of Perkin Warbeck, and was beheaded. The title was revived in favour of his son Robert who, present at the coronation of Henry the Eighth and afterwards at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, was created Earl of Sussex. He died Lord Chamberlain of England and was buried here.

The third earl, Thomas, was the crowning glory of the family, soldier, diplomatist, scholar, and friend of learning, whose second wife, Frances Sidney, aunt of Sir Philip, founded at Cambridge the Sidney Sussex College. His father having seen Henry crowned, Thomas saw him into the grave. From early manhood he was engaged in State affairs, seeking a French bride for Edward the Sixth and witnessing his will ; and he played a leading part in bringing about the marriage of Mary Tudor with Philip of Spain.

He took part in the coronation of Queen Elizabeth, who made him Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, his duty now being to impose the Protestant faith on that country. With insufficient forces, and his difficulties aggravated by the enmity of the Earl of Leicester, he achieved practically nothing. Returning to England he played with skill and clemency a difficult part in suppressing the Northern Rebellion, and was entrusted with two missions concerning the projected marriage of Elizabeth.

Highly trusted by the Queen, who had made him Lord Chamberlain, he accompanied her on triumphal progresses, and in 1573 received from her the gift of Boreham and other manors. Dying in 1583, he was succeeded by his brother Henry, fourth earl, who in the course of troublous days in Ireland was imprisoned and almost brought to bankruptcy in the service of the Crown. As Governor of Portsmouth he was responsible for equipping ships to fight the Armada. He died in 1593, and sleeps here. The fifth earl inherited family debts incurred in State service, and appealed for a post which would enable him to die abroad in the service of the Queen rather than languish in poverty at home. Although impoverished, he won fame as a scholar and friend of learning. Chapman dedicated a sonnet to him, prefacing the translation of Homer which was later to inspire the immortal sonnet of Keats. Present at the inauguration of Charles Stuart as Prince of Wales, and at his coronation, he died in 1629, and rests here with his ancestors. The title passed to his cousin Edward, and expired with him 300 years ago.

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Berners Roding

It took me ages to find All Saints and when I did it was to find it in a sadly dilapidated state and appears to slowly falling down. Not surprisingly it was locked, it's probably too dangerous to go into anyway. The church is de-consecrated, owned by the local farm and the churchyard is a conservation area managed by Epping county council.

The precise origins of the church are unknown, but there are elements of the building that date back to the 14th Century. The Chancel and the Nave of the church are of an unknown date, but the east and west walls are known to be 16th Century in date. The church did at one time have a tower that held a single bell. (Built by John Dyer in 1594).  In the book “The Buildings of England – Essex” by Nikolaus Pevsner, he makes reference to the church and describes it with a weather-boarded belfry with pyramid roof. Pevsner's survey of Essex was evidently carried out before the winter of 1953/54, and the book was first published in 1954. It follows the tower must have been pulled down post 1953.

The church itself is Grade 2 listed, but unfortunately is in a poor state of repair. The north nave wall is structurally unsound and this has led to the buildings inclusion on the Essex buildings at risk register.

The churchyard has a badger sett in and around some south-east graves - rather disturbing for those supposedly resting in peace!

This is one of the rare places that Arthur Mee failed to report on - perhaps it was too small for him to notice.

CHURCH. Nave and chancel, and weatherboard belfry with pyramid roof. Two early C16 brick windows in the chancel. - The chancel has a tiebeam with kingpost and four-way struts. Nicely moulded wall-plates. - PLATE. Cup of 1627.

 

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Simon K. 

Abandoned and derelict church on the remote Berners Hall estate.

In 1911, my great-great-aunt Julia Mortlock was a cook at Berners Hall. By then, it was inhabited by James, Charles and Caroline Glasse, two brothers and a sister from Morwenstowe in Cornwall. There was only one other servant. By 1919, the farm had been sold to the Co-op, who still own it today. I believe the grounds have a famous carp lake.

Wormingford

St Andrew is the last of my 'archive' postings from henceforth posts will be from churches I have recently visited.

A lovely mellow yellow set in a lovely churchyard but sadly with no guide, so I almost missed the two brasses in the tower, it's not a typical Essex church - I suspect a Suffolk influence at work here.

It sits on a height above the middle reaches of the River Stour, and is very beautiful. Just below is Smallbridge Hall, where Sir William Waldegrave entertained Elizabeth I. On the distant horizon opposite is Arger Fen nature reserve, and the hill upon which Edmund was crowned King of East Anglia on Christmas Day, 856, and, marked by the BBC television mast, the old farmhouse where Martin Shaw composed his hymn 'Hills of the north, rejoice!'.

The church is one of twelve in the neighbourhood which are dedicated to the apostle Andrew. St Andrew dedications were given to churches built near water.

North of the gate are the tombs of John Constable's Uncle Abram and Aunt Mary, and their children, 'The Wormingford Folk', as the artist described them in his letters home. By the far hedge, the grave of John Nash, R.A., who painted this landscape over many years, and his wife the artist Christine Kuhlenthal.

The tower is early 12th century, limestone, with Roman brick quoins. The Roman bricks may have come from a local villa or from Colchester. There are vast numbers of them in the district. They make fine corners. The tower is of three stages and is topped with a 17th century brick parapet and pinnacles. The windows, also made of Roman brick, are 12th century.

The porch is chiefly Victorian (1870) but contains the re-set 15th century archway of the earlier porch. The doorway is late 14th century. Above it may be seen the arch of the original 12th century entrance, and by the side a medieval stoup.

The Nave and north arcade of four bays are 14th century. The octagonal columns have moulded capitals and bases. The south wall contains three 14th century windows, much restored, and a blocked 12th century window. The north Aisle is 14th century with a 16th century camber beam roof. The Nave roof is among the most remarkable feats of Victorian carpentry. Made of resinous softwood, it is said to be a replica of the mediaeval roof it replaced in 1870. It is decorated with a great many thin panels of pierced tracery which lend it an airy elegance.

ST ANDREW. Norman W tower with original windows and bell-openings. Norman nave with one blocked S window. The N aisle and N windows early C14. Arcade of four bays with smallish octagonal piers and arches with two quadrant mouldings. - STAINED GLASS. C14 bits in chancel windows. - PLATE. Elizabethan Cup with band of ornament. - BRASSES. Civilian c. 1450; Civilian and two wives, early C17; both in the floor under the tower.

WORMINGFORD. A century ago they moved its mysterious mound and discovered hundreds of urns in parallel rows, grim relics, perhaps, of the 9th Roman Legion cut off at the Stour while marching to support their army against Boadicea. Moated houses bear witness to the troublous times of a later era, and even the 17th century homestead Garnons has traces of an outer enclosure. This house has five neighbours as old as itself, and there are many pretty cottages amid beautiful scenery. Church House is Tudor, and so is Church Hall, a delightful building with brick chimneys looking on the entrance to the beautiful churchyard.

The church has a 15th century bell in its Norman tower, which has a 17th century parapet but Roman tiles in the corners. The Norman nave has two of its original windows blocked with Roman bricks. The porch has a 15th century arch through which we come to a fine little nave arcade 200 years older, its pointed arches on eight-sided pillars. The aisle is 13th century, but has a Tudor roof. The chancel was made new in the 14th century, its arch crossed by a modern screen into which has been worked some 500-year-old carving (which is no longer extant). A window on the sunny side has a tiny Tudor shield and a 14th century roundel, and in the opposite wall is some delightful 14th century glass with floral borders and nine roundels.

In the floor of the tower is a 15th century brass of a civilian in long gown and pointed shoes, and of the next century is the brass of a praying man with his two wives in big hats and frilled sleeves. By the chancel arch hangs a thank offering for those who safely returned from the Great War, a painting of a ship being welcomed to harbour, "the haven where they would be."

In the churchyard is a font bowl filled with fuchsias, foreign flowers which would have astonished the medieval maker of the font.

Simon K -
 

Open. The village is large and ordinary, but as at Boxted the church is in a hamlet a mile or so off, and what an idyllic spot it is! The church is beautiful, flint and red brick and pink septaria glowing in the afternoon sun, surrounded by Horse chestnuts and holly trees. It is utterly delightful, and immediately joined my list of churchyards I'd be prepared to be buried in. The artist John Nash is against the western hedge, the Vale dropping away steeply beyond.

Inevitably, the interior is an anti-climax, a thorough-going restoration of the 1890s with nothing old surviving (though Pevsner reports a brass which I couldn't find*) but I still liked it a great deal indeed. A lovely setting. This is Ronald Blythe's church, by the way. His weekly column in the Church Times is called 'The Word from Wormingford'.

*I've since learned it is under the tower.

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Wimbish

All Saints is lovely but understandably locked as it is fairly isolated, however a sign states that it is open at weekends but each time I've gone back it has been locked. Perseverance might one day pay off, we'll wait and see.

UPDATE: Having visited Radwinter last Saturday I came back via Wimbish in the forlorn hope that it might be open and to my astonishment finally gained access. A very nice lady was flower arranging and let me photograph the interior.

It's a nice church with good screens, a very early brass - I think the earliest I've seen but I'd need to check that - and a strange stair doorway close to the south door - if it's a rood screen door it's in a funny place - in what appears to be a Norman window.

If for no other reason I liked the interior since it led me to putting Mary Wiseman in my family tree.

ALL SAINTS. Norman nave (see one S window and the S doorway, with two orders of columns, one of them spiral-carved and with volute capitals, the other smooth and with one-scallop capitals; both have plaited rings below the capitals). The C13 made alterations to this Norman nave, but it is not easy to understand them. The only evidence is a blank pointed arcade outside, just above the Norman window. What was its purpose? Inside, the N arcade is also C13. It has quatrefoil piers and double hollow-chamfered arches. N aisle and S porch C15. Chancel 1868, W tower taken down in 1883 and not yet rebuilt. The N aisle roof is dated 1534 in one of the graceful tracery spandrels of the braces. - SCREEN to the N chapel; one-light divisions with ogee heads and mouchettes above; C15.- MONUMENT. Sir John de Wantone d. 1347 and wife. An unusual and delightful piece. Two small brasses, only 18 in. long, both in the elegant, swaying attitudes of that age. The figures are set in the head of an octofoil cross. The style is very similar to that of the most accomplished of English brasses, that of Sir Hugh. Hastings at Elsing in Norfolk (d. 1347).

WIMBISH. It has many fine farm buildings round about; one of them, Tiptofts, has remarkable timbers 600 years old and stands within the waters of a moat. Inside its hall are wooden columns to support the massive tiebeam of the kingpost roof; and the original 14th century roofs are also over the buttery and solar wings. With its great brick chimney added 200 years later, the house is a rare example of an ancient English home. Broad Oaks is a moated manor house of Tudor brick, with graceful chimneys and handsome windows of stone. Within are doors and panelling of the 17th century, and a stone fireplace of about 1560.

The church is in a lovely setting of trees, and has nave walls and a little window of the 12th century. Of about the same age is the handsome doorway, protected by a 15th century porch whose upper room is reached by a stairway in the thickness of the wall. The double door has been opening and shutting since Henry the Seventh was on the throne. Handsome columns have been standing in the nave for 700 years; a board painted with texts and commandments was here before the Spanish Armada sailed; and the Tudor roof of the aisle has a fine rose in one spandrel, balanced by the arabic figures 1534. Two 14th century screens are very finely traceried, and from the same age are some glass flowers and shields and yellow leopards. Here are two of the oldest brass portraits in Essex. They show Sir John de Wautone of 1347 and his Ellen, he looking much as a warrior at Crecy must have looked, his lady very gracefully dressed. The portraits are set in the head of a cross, the only impress of a brass cross in the county; and below is the impress of an elephant, the badge of the Beaumont family.

Simon K -

All Saints, Wimbish, Essex

Locked, but a notice said welcome to our church, you may step in and enjoy the peace or somesuch, so I guess they had already locked it.

Pleasantly set in a a farmyard away from the road, looking its major restoration from without, but it sounds interesting within. It is actually at the edge of the village of Radwinter.

I was taken by a sudden whim to head on to Sturmer and Birdbrook, both of which would surely have been locked for the night, and get the train from Bury or Sudbury. But fortunately sweet reason prevailed and I turned west again to Saffron Walden and Audley End station.

I got the 1745, arriving Cambridge at 1808 and had another 40 minutes heel-kicking before the train home to Ipswich. I'd visited 17 churches, 13 in Essex and 4 in Hertfordshire, most of them open, though not all. It is the most churches I have visited in a single day for nearly a year. Total distance cycled about 60 miles.

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