Arthur Mee says: Here by the Cambridgeshire border is one of the
surprises of Essex, the Bartlow Hills. They are a group of mounds in
two rows, the biggest being 40 feet high and 150 feet across. In them a
century ago were found walled graves containing treasures of enamel
and bronze and glass, the last resting places of British lords when
England was part of the Roman Empire. We find a casket from these
graves in the British Museum. Many old farms and cottages has Ashdon,
some Elizabethan, some 17th century, and one, the old guildhall
(now turned into cottages) built about 1500; it has an overhanging
storey, ornamental brackets and the original timbers in the roof. The
rectory is 100 years younger.
The oldest timbers in the village are in the 14th century church,
where a lovely chancel roof was set up about the time of Agincourt. It
has a beam with pierced ornament and other carving. Both porches are
15th century, and so are the chest and a moulded roof-beam. The nave
has early Tudor woodwork and the big 14th century south chapel has its
original timber roof resting on corbels of a lion and a knight. On a
chapel wall at the windows are stone carvings of a knight and a
woman, each behind a shield. The Norman font bowl is on a 13th century
stem, the altar rails were made beautiful by Jacobean craftsmen and
there are man fragments of glass about 500 years old, including an
angel with golden wings. An altar tomb panelled with shields is in
memory of the Tyrells of Henry the Eighth’s day and a tablet carved
with fishes and scallop shells is to Richard Tyrell of 1566.
Flickr set.
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