Bentley Common

Built in 1880 St Paul is a large Victorian new build which is unusually anodyne particularly given the liberal use of chunky alabaster - perhaps because it's remarkably light for a church of its age. Unusually stained glass is minimised giving a relatively airy feel - I'd rate this as good of its type.

Unusually this is the second church on this trip that both boys missed.

Flickr.

Simon K.

Open. A grand late 19th century extravaganza by EC Lee, with a great urban spire, quite out of scale with the village. Naughty, but in the right spirit, as someone once said of somewhere else. 

Lots of excellent glass inside by the Maille workshop of Canterbury. EC Lee is best known for the Arts and Crafts church of St Thomas at Brentwood a couple of miles off, but here he seems to have enjoyed himself a bit more.

Bentley was carved out of South Weald parish, which until the 1870s also included the entire town of Brentwood.