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.

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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.