Ulting, Essex

All Saints sits right on the bank of the River Chelmer (I bet flooding is a problem) and is lovely. A sign on the padlocked gate at the top of drive forewarned me that it would be locked - they've had vandal problems - but a keyholder would be nice.

ALL SAINTS. By the river, with no village near. Essentially C13, see the lancet windows in chancel and nave and the S doorway. The W windows are of 1873, as is the Perp E window, and the belfry. - FONT. Of Purbeck marble; not square but octagonal with only one of the usual blank arches per side. The angles of the octagon are chamfered. - BENCH-ENDS. Two with poppyheads, re-used. - PLATE. Cup of 1570; Paten of 1571.

ULTING. It lies by the part of the River Chelmer which was made into a navigable canal at the end of the 18th century. A few of its houses are 300 years old, and the church beside the tree-shaded canal is more than twice as ancient. It is a little building 45 feet by 18 feet almost entirely 13th century, but with a tiny turret and spire of the 15th century. The font, on six short pillars, has been here since the church was built; the nave roof and the piscina carved with a flower are 600 years old; the wall-plates of the chancel roof are a century younger; and two bench-ends fastened to a chest in the vestry were made when the Tudor Age began.

Flickr.