Tuesday, 4 September 2012

Cold Norton

St Stephen was rebuilt by the Victorians and it shows.

ST STEPHEN. 1855 by Pritchett (GR), with a bellcote quite out of keeping with the style of this part of Essex. But what did the High Victorians care? - BRASS. To a Lady, c. 1520.

Glass (2)

Maude Cammocke 1599 (2)

Brass (1)

COLD NORTON. Its cottages are scattered on a slope above the River Crouch. Its church is of last century and has a few things from the older church, a brass showing a woman in the headdress of 1520, and an oak pulpit carved from the old beams in the roof. From the same ancient timbers comes the reading desk. Crouching apostles and saints with their emblems as corbels support the roof, a modern sculpture gallery; and three panels of glass with backgrounds of rich blue give a glow to the east window. Its central panel is a beautiful Crucifixion.

Simon K -

A survival of the medieval church that this one replaced.

Open. The doors were latched back open. On the map it appears in the ground of the Hall, but the hall is out of sight and it just has a few cottages for company, very pretty. The land drops away dramatically down towards the Crouch, and I could see all of North Fambridge and the river below.

The church was rebuilt in the 1860s out of greenstone, a harsh material more familiar in Kent, although I have visited a couple of Essex churches made out of it, including Goldhanger. An expected 19th century interior of course, but the corbels holding up the roof are very fine, Epsteinesque figures of the apostles with their symbols.

A pleasant place to stop. I ate my sandwiches overlooking the view below, and then headed on to Latchingdon.

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