ST GILES AND ALL SAINTS. Norman nave - see the S doorway with primitive volute capitals, arch with zigzag, hoodmould with billet, a curved lintel and a tympanum with diapers divided into triangles. Evidence of a C13 N aisle the first two bays from the W - the first now blocked by the W tower. They have circular piers and one-stepped, single-chamfered arches. In the C14 the chancel was built and the N aisle widened. The chancel E window is of four lights with cusping and a quatrefoil in a circle on top. The S window and those of the C19 S organ chamber are of two lights in the same style. The chancel Sedilia have detached shafts and moulded capitals. Of the C14 also the E part of the N arcade with piers with four demi-shafts and four hollows in the diagonals and moulded arches. Next in time comes the tower, placed at the W end of the aisle and occupying its first C13 bay. It is partly of stone and partly of C17 brick and has big diagonal buttresses, a thick NW stair-turret, brick battlements and a spire. - FONT. Perp, octagonal, with buttressed stem and panels with rosettes and shields. - SCREEN. 1911 by Comper. - STAINED GLASS. S chapel W and organ chamber E by Wailes c. 1845, with glaringly coloured roundels. - SCULPTURE. Five Italian C18 panels: Annunciation, Holy Family, Mourning of the Dead Christ, Ascension, Pentecost. - PLATE. Cup and Cover of 1575; Flagon of 1677; Salver of 1688. - MONUMENTS. Brasses to Thomas Latham d. 1485 and wife and children, minute figures. - Sir John Hart d. 1658. Broad standing wall monument with black columns, entablature with narrower segmental pediment and semi-reclining figure with cheek propped up on elbow. - Elizabeth Baker d. 1796, monument with small female with urn, above inscription plate; by Regnart. - Charlotte Baker d. 1808, figure of faith standing; by Westmacott. - Dame Jane Trafford Southwell d. 1809. mourning female, urn, and standing angel, also by Westmacott. - Again by Westmacott Richard Baker d. 1827, standing wall monument with two angels, one on the floor, the other just taking off. - In the churchyard Captain Samuel Bonham d. 1745, pyramid on bulgy sarcophagus.
ORSETT. Approach it by any way we will, some attraction greets us: an old windmill by a 16th century house at a crossroads London-way, a row of timbered houses on the other side, the Cock Inn towards the Thames, a medieval house with an overhanging storey to the north. A path by the church leads across a field to the earthworks on which stood a palace of Bishop Bonner, the torturer of so many Protestants and chief agent of Mary Tudor’s reign of terror.
Close by is another rich heritage from the 16th century, Hall Farm, with an overhanging storey and ancient windows. By this lovely piece of Tudor England stands the village lock-up with a tiny barred window; on a small green under the trees is the village pound; and on another open space is the memorial to the men who did not come back, “in token of pride and affection and respect.”
We pass the old Church House, which is now a post ofiice, and a 17th century cottage now a shop, to come to the wooden porch which has sheltered for 500 years the magnificent doorway (with two ancient sundials) set up by the Normans in 1160. The present nave was their whole church. The great tower 16 feet square has on its wall the name of its 15th century donor; its spire is 17th century. The chapel has long been linked with Orsett Hall, a house in a lovely park beyond the village. Its owners have filled it with treasures old and new. A traceried screen of the 15th century divides it from the aisle. An imposing monument covers the grave of Sir John Hart, who died in Cromwell’s day and lies between black columns. An angel with a sickle and an angel of the resurrection are on the 19th century tomb of Richard Baker. There are brass portraits in the chancel of Thomas Latham with his wife and their three children in 15th century costume, and a brass of Robert Kinge, a 16th century priest. There is a fine font from medieval days, a Jacobean pulpit, a 16th century chest with linenfold, and another of the 17th century with a lid 700 years old.
Close by is another rich heritage from the 16th century, Hall Farm, with an overhanging storey and ancient windows. By this lovely piece of Tudor England stands the village lock-up with a tiny barred window; on a small green under the trees is the village pound; and on another open space is the memorial to the men who did not come back, “in token of pride and affection and respect.”
We pass the old Church House, which is now a post ofiice, and a 17th century cottage now a shop, to come to the wooden porch which has sheltered for 500 years the magnificent doorway (with two ancient sundials) set up by the Normans in 1160. The present nave was their whole church. The great tower 16 feet square has on its wall the name of its 15th century donor; its spire is 17th century. The chapel has long been linked with Orsett Hall, a house in a lovely park beyond the village. Its owners have filled it with treasures old and new. A traceried screen of the 15th century divides it from the aisle. An imposing monument covers the grave of Sir John Hart, who died in Cromwell’s day and lies between black columns. An angel with a sickle and an angel of the resurrection are on the 19th century tomb of Richard Baker. There are brass portraits in the chancel of Thomas Latham with his wife and their three children in 15th century costume, and a brass of Robert Kinge, a 16th century priest. There is a fine font from medieval days, a Jacobean pulpit, a 16th century chest with linenfold, and another of the 17th century with a lid 700 years old.
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