Wimpole, Cambridgeshire

From Royston I re-visited Litlington and Abington Pigotts and the headed off to St Andrew in the grounds of Wimpole Hall. St Andrew is a hodgepodge building and a mausoleum to various Earls of Hardwicke and their offspring.

I rather liked the C18th classical west facade but was left perplexed by the Victorian re-built nave. Inside is just as peculiar with the nave feeling like a Friends meeting house and the north chapel being filled with monuments as aforesaid. I think this has to be Cambridgeshire's oddest church.

ST ANDREW. To the E of the house and close to the horrible stables. The church as rebuilt by Flizcroft in 1749 was the perfect ecclesiastical counterpart of the mansion. But when it was made Dec in 1887 according to the then current views on decorum, only the entrance bay with the bell-turret and the Venetian window and gable at the E end were left. Inside also little survives of the good manners of the C18, and the W gallery of 1887 with its elephantiasis of Gothic forms leaves one bewildered. The church is a storehouse of monuments, richer than any other in the county. Most of them are in the N chapel. - COMMUNION RAIL. Wrought iron. - STAINED GLASS. Old fragments in the N chapel windows. - MONUMENTS. Brass to a Civilian c. 1500, 17 in. figure. - Brass to a Lady, c. 1500, 18 in. figure. - Brass to Thomas Worsley d. 1590 (?), 4 ft figure with the Virgin and Child small above. - Sir Thomas Chicheley d. 1616, recumbent effigy. - Then three monuments by Scheemakers, all mature works in a style no longer of true Rococo brio: Catherine, wife of the Hon. Charles Yorke d. 1759, designed by James Stuart, 176I. Three putti playing round an urn with garlands of a Louis XVI closeness of outline. Medallion below the urn. - Philip, first Earl of Hardwicke d. 1764, the Lord Chancellor. Also designed by Stuart. A vast affair filling the chapel to the top. Putti against the base. On the base two large allegorical females. Big sarcophagus with two portrait medallions. Obelisk back. - Hon. Charles Yorke d. 1770. Obelisk with portrait medallion and two asymmetrically arranged putti about an urn, less restrained in the composition, because no Athenian Stuart was concerned with it. - Mrs Yorke d. 1766, unsigned. - Philip, second Earl of Hardwicke d. 1790. By Banks. Woman bent over an urn. (The price of this monument was £350.) - R. Hon. Sir James Yorke. Finely carved, without figures. By John Bacon, 1798. - Hon. John Yorke d. 1801. A chef-d’oeuvre of Westmacotts, in a very pure Grecian taste of composition, and yet of a fine intimacy. Husband and wife standing by a tall urn. their gestures and especially the outstretched arm of the lady make a pattern of great lucidity. - (Mrs Charles Yorke d. 1820 by Flaxman.) - Philip, third Earl of Hardwicke d. 1834. By Westmacott jnr, 1844. Tomb-chest with figure in garter-robes asleep. - The monument to Joseph Sydney Yorke 1 I798 is not in its original state. The way it is reassembled, it shows side by side a mourning woman and the prow of a ship.

WIMPOLE. Its park lies between two Roman roads, great gates with a stone lion and unicorn opening to it from one part of Ermine Street, and a marvellous avenue running from another and crossing Akeman Street on which the village lies. The avenue is a double one of elms, like a nave and an aisle, 100 yards wide and more than two miles long, and is an approach to the hall built three centuries ago by Sir Thomas Chichele, enlarged by the Earl of Oxford, and made bigger again by Philip Yorke, Earl of Hardwicke. Here Queen Victoria was entertained soon after her marriage, and the story is told how, having by mistake mislaid her jewels, she came down to dinner with a wreath of roses in her hair, someone saying (we doubt not with truth) that not all the jewels in the world could have made her look so queenly.

The great house and the church stand together, linked by association down the ages. The church was made new with brick walls in 1749, but it has kept its Chichele chapel with a great display of monuments in stone and brass. On a big alabaster tomb lies Sir Thomas Chichele of 1616 in gilded armour, at his feet a dog with a bone, and round the tomb six children, one a wide-awake babe in a cradle. The little collection of brasses on the chapel wall includes a fine portrait of Dr Thomas Worsley in his rich Tudor vestments, an unusual picture of the Madonna and her Child, and a very attractive figure of Edward Marshall who was parson here and died in 1625. We see also a graceful woman in a little cap, and a group of six girls in kennel headdresses. In two of the chapel windows there is 14th century glass, with many old shields of lords of the manor, and a figure in brown disguised as a monk. One attractive window shows Our Lord in Glory, and another the Madonna and St George in memory of a soldier of the Great War and his mother. A third window is interesting for its story rather than for the highly coloured glass which tells it. It is to Victor Yorke of the great house, who died of heart failure in 1867 while giving a penny reading when he was the guest of the Rothschilds. We see him as an officer reading to a little group, among them his host and the daughter of the house, whom he was going to marry. "

There is a huge monument to the Earl of Hardwicke, with figures of Britannia and a woman with lilies, and a plaque of himself and his wife. Famous as a lawyer who did much for that part of our law known as Equity, he became Lord Chancellor and presided over the trials which followed the rebellion of 1745. Another monument has a portrait of his son Charles Yorke, who was Lord Chancellor too, and there is a handsome marble figure of the 3rd earl, reclining with a sword and a book, wearing the rich regalia of the Order of the Garter with a pendant of St George slaying the dragon. Other family memorials are in classical style with cherubs, plaques, and figures of women by urns.

A Great Reformer

PHILIP YORKE, the great Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, was the son of an obscure Dover lawyer who sent the lad to his London agent. An industrious apprentice, he studied so hard that, without university training, he was a barrister at 25, Solicitor-General at 30, and four years later Attorney-General.

During this period his foremost patron, Lord Macclesfield, was impeached for corruption. Friendship prompted Yorke to defend him; duty bade him prosecute; and Parliament had a heart and excused the younger man this ungrateful task. At 43 Yorke was Lord Chief Justice and Baron Hardwicke, and at 47 Lord Chancellor. For twenty years he occupied the Woolsack, a model of probity and impartial justice. The custom of the age permitted him to grow rich from fees and perquisites, a system abhorrent to modern minds but then accepted. For years his wife would not hear of his accepting an earldom, observing that, though no suitors would expect more than £10,000 with the Misses Yorke, they would expect £20,000 with Lady Elizabeth and Lady Margaret. A thrifty woman was Lady Hardwicke. The Great Seal of the Lord Chancellor is enclosed in a rich case of embroidered velvet renewed every year, and, twenty of these falling to the Lord Chancellor, his wife had them made into bed hangings.

Hardwicke presided at the trial of the leading rebels in the Stuart rising of 1745, pronounced their doom, and enacted a law forbidding the weaving of tartan as the national dress of Scotland. He was a powerful advocate of the reform of the calendar, reformed the marriage laws, and struck a salutary blow for justice by abolishing hereditary judgeships in Scotland. He died in 1764 rich and honoured, his son Charles succeeding to the Woolsack but dying without enjoying the office.

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Royston, Hertfordshire

St John the Baptist; I wasn't so sure and am still uncertain. It seemed over restored but still contained loads of interest, most of which was tarted up - I think Pevsner sums it up with 'townish'.

ST JOHN AND ST THOMAS. The present church is large and townish. It lies E of the old road and S of the new main road of Royston. It looks all of a piece, but is in fact a post-Reformation adaptation of the monastic church. Of this the nave and aisles were pulled down. The wall running W parallel with the N aisle wall of the church is the N aisle wall of the monastic church. The W tower stands where the nave must have ended. The rood-stair  has been traced one bay E of the tower. This first bay of the present nave is different from the others. After that the nave appears on the S side for two bays as a convincing piece of mid C13 design, with piers consisting of four big main shafts and four keeled diagonal shafts, and carrying octagonal capitals and complexly moulded arches. The N arcade and the rest of the s arcade have mostly octagonal piers. But one on the N side has four main and four subsidiary shafts, presumably the result of the re-use of old materials. This same very understandable device accounts for the odd blocked archway in the N aisle and for details of the W tower, and of the S aisle windows. The E part of the nave is again a part of the monastic church which can easily be reconstructed. It represents the originally aisleless E end of the chancel. 0n the N side one large lancet remains complete and the springing of a second can be recognized. On the S side the tops of all three (with dog-tooth ornament) have been exposed in the masonry above the arcades. — At what time these arcades were built so entirely in the spirit of the old work cannot be said. The Royal Commission is satisfied with ‘in the C17 or C18’ and ‘at some uncertain period’. Fresh detail research is needed. The present chancel and most of the W tower including the W portal are C19. But the Piscina in the chancel is again a genuine C13 fragment. - PULPIT. Containing tracery from the former SCREEN of which other fragments have been used for a DESK. - SCULPTURE. Image of the Virgin (headless) and of a bishop (also headless), both of alabaster, C15. - STAINED GLASS. C15 angels in a N Window. - PLATE. Chalice, 1621; fine Paten, 1629; Paten, 1718. - MONUMENTS. Alabaster effigy of a Knight, two angels at the head, late C14. - Brass to William Tabram, Rector of Therfield, d. 1462, demi—figure under cusped ogee canopy with thin pinnacles (nave). - Brass to a man and woman, c. 1500 (nave). - Thin Brass Cross in stone slab, C15 (chancel). -  Against the outer N wall large tablets referring to the BELDAM VAULTS close by, the earlier with scrolly broken pediment records names from 1725 onwards, the later in a Gothic Revival style (very Dec with crocketed ogee canopies) from c. 1830 onwards.

Royston. A town of narrow streets lined with old inns and houses, it has three notable things to bring a traveller here: a cave unique in Europe, the remnants of a palace famous for a poignant event in the history of the Empire, and a church with something in it from every century since the 13th.

The cave, an extraordinary place like no other we have seen, is deep down below the road at the meeting of the Icknield Way and Ermine Street. It is cut out of the solid chalk, bell-shaped, 25 feet high and 17 across, and its walls are covered with crude carvings. A winding passage brings us down to it, leading us till we are 30 feet below the road, with a candle to light up the queer crude figures of saints and crusaders, kings and martyrs, a curious medley of scenes from legend and history. It would seem that the carvings were once coloured, and that most of them are of Bible scenes; they are described to us as Mary and Joseph lifting the Child on to St Christopher’s shoulder, St Catherine resting on the Everlasting Arm, John the Baptist, St Thomas of Canterbury, the Holy Family, the Vision of Paul. The history of this strange cave is mysterious, but it is thought the Romans may have found it here and used it for a tomb, that the early Christians may have used it for an oratory, and that the carvings were made about the time of the crusades. The cave was found by chance in 1742, when men were driving a post into the ground as the foundation of a bench for the market workmen, and 200 loads of earth had to be moved before the cave could be reached.

The palace of King James I has almost entirely vanished, but a fragment remains in Kneesworth Street, with a front of about 50 feet looking on to the garden, the back facing the street. It is part of the palace to which the king often came for hunting on this heath which still stretches over 400 acres, a beautiful windswept hill with here and there a hump of a great burial mound, and from the top a wide view of fields and distant hills - blue and green with those shades which seem inseparable from the chalk range of the Chilterns. The people of Royston found the king’s presence expensive for them, and seem to have presented a petition that his majesty might be pleased to leave the town as they were unable to entertain him any longer. One good effect the palace had, however, for it preserved the great stretch of country round from poachers, “persons of base condition, and the scholars of Cambridge.” One thing to his eternal shame Macaulay’s “ricketty legged king” did here - it was in this palace that he signed the document betraying the founder of the British Empire to his enemies, the document which sent Sir Walter Raleigh to the block to please the Spanish ambassador. The wheel of time brought its revenge, for the king’s son was to come back to Royston in due time, not as a king but as a captive, to spend two nights here as a prisoner of the army.

The church is interesting for its possessions. The nave and aisles were built in the middle of the 13th century, but the north arcade was rebuilt, probably in the 17th century, except for the middle pillar, which is 700 years old. There has been much 19th-century restoration, but the west tower is much as it was remade from the old stones in the 16th century. The south aisle roof is 15th century and the north aisle roof has medieval timbers in it. There is 14th century oak panelling, a 13th-century font bowl on a 15th-century base, a 13th-century piscina, and a pulpit with part of the medieval rood screen worked into it. There is a curious 15th- century brass showing the Five Wounds, brass portraits of an unknown man and his wife of 1500, and the canopied figure in brass of Thomas Tabran, a rector of 1462. There are ancient sculptures of the Madonna showing the Child with a bird in His hand, and of a bishop who has lost his head; but the most impressive monument in the church is of a knight of the 14th century, carved in alabaster.

In the graveyard lies Henry Andrews who, born in the 18th century, gave more than 40 years of his life to making astronomical calculations, being also an astrologer in the days when astrology was not the quackery Fleet Street has made it today.

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Wenden Lofts, Essex

St Dunstan needed a fair amount of sleuthing around footpaths until it revealed itself and can only be seen from a distance as it, like nearby St Helen in Wicken Bonhunt, is on private land. It was declared redundant and partially demolished in 1958 but the tower and ivy covered walls remain.

From The Lost Parish Churches of Essex: Situated four miles from Audley End and Saffron Walden, St Dunstan's is now set beside the new Lofts Hall. This Hall, built in a neo-Georgian style, replaced an Elizabethan one of brick constructed in about 1580 which was destroyed in 1965. The parish derived its name from the ancient 13th century Loughs family.

In the 1760s, Morant described St Dunstan’s as "a small low building, but with a good prospect over the country." Wright went on to describe it in the 1830s as "a low ancient building, in good repair."

The church contained a 15th century brass with effigies, dedicated to William Lucas, Katherine Lucas, (c1456) and their four sons and four daughters. One of the sons wears the dress and holds the crosier of a prior or abbot. The current whereabouts of this brass is not known. Bertram's 'Lost Brasses' says that it was stolen from the church in 1940.

The building is of Norman origin but was completely reconstructed in 1845 in the 15th century style. Very little of the original structure is left and I have been unable to find any descriptions or sketches of it other than of the type quoted above. The beautiful Norman Romanesque doorway is still in existence on the south side. Worley describes "its bold rounded arch, with chevron moulding, resting on circular shafts with slightly carved caps."

During the rebuilding three bells were hung in the tower. A three-decker pulpit remained in 1940 but is no longer in evidence. Perhaps it was removed to a nearby attended church. Some 18th century stained glass remained in the windows. This consisted of a sundial and Jacob’s ladder with a symbolic snail. Also included were "a figure of charity, scenes of the Nativity, the Crucifixion, and a group of armed men with a camel." This glass was moved to Elmdon when Wenden was declared redundant.

St Dunstan’s was partially demolished in 1958, later declared redundant and is now privately owned by the occupant of the Hall. The Norman doorway is the only protected part of the church.

A wall-monument tells of the Wilkes family who worshiped there for a century. One member bore the entire cost of rebuilding the church. The interior of the church is in a serious state of disrepair.

The nave is currently occupied by an old pram and a small rowing boat. The rest of the floor is strewn with stone and debris.

Location: The church lies down a private road, next door to Wenden Hall. Permission must be gained from the Hall owner, particularly to visit the interior. The Norman doorway is well worth the effort.

In my meanderings around various roads and footpaths trying to find St Dunstan I was struck by how close it was to Elmdon and Chrishall. Wenden Lofts no longer exists as a village and yet here is a church 0.5 miles from Elmdon and 0.7 miles from Chrishall (as an aside Elmdon and Chrishall are only 0.9 miles apart) in an area of, bearing in mind my maths is not good, 1.85 miles - this strikes me as out of the ordinary but I've never really thought about how close rural parish churches might be to each other having normally traveled via my car rather than by foot - I shall do some plotting on Google maps and report back.

I've been unsuccessful in finding out what happened to Wenden Lofts as a village but at least I found the church.

WENDEN LOFTS. Its church, which has splendid trees around it, was refashioned a century ago but has kept a fine Norman doorway with chevron ornament, a three-decker pulpit, and several other old possessions. In 18th century glass we see a sundial and Jacob’s Ladder, with a symbolical snail; and in foreign glass a little older is a figure of Charity, scenes of the Nativity, the Crucifixion, and a group of armed men with a camel. William Lucas of 1460 is here in brass with his wife and eight children. One of the sons was Abbot of Waltham, and is shown in his robes carrying a crozier. The daughters are wearing headdresses fashionable 500 years ago. A wall monument tells of the Wilkes family who worshiped here for a century, one of them bearing the whole cost of rebuilding the church.

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Wicken Bonhunt, Essex

Last Tuesday I went on a mop up trip in the north west quadrant which, apart from four remaining Cambridge churches, finished off the area.

The day began with St Helen's Chapel in Wicken Bonhunt which is on private land and therefore inaccessible, which is a shame as the Norman features look fascinating but even more annoying was the angle of the sun.

From British History Online: Chapel of St. Helen, at Bonhunt Farm, ¾ m. E. of the church, now desecrated and used as a stable. The walls are built of flint and pebble rubble, patched, and in parts rebuilt with brick; the dressings are of limestone and clunch; the roof is covered with thatch. The chapel, consisting of Chancel and Nave, was built in the second half of the 12th century. It was apparently repaired in the 13th century. The E. wall of the chancel and the N.W. angle of the nave, with various minor repairs, are modern.

Wicken Bonhunt, Chapel of St. Helen

Architectural Description - The Chancel (15½ ft. by 10¼ ft.) has a modern E. window. In the N. wall is a small 12th-century window with rebated jambs and semi-circular head. In the S. wall is a similar window. The chancel-arch has been removed and the internal angles of the chancel rebuilt with modern brick.

The Nave (22 ft. by 14¾ ft.) has two windows in the N. wall; the eastern is of the 12th century, and similar to those in the chancel, but apparently much restored at a later date; the western window is modern. Between them is a modern doorway with several 13th-century moulded stones, re-set in the head. In the N.W. corner are re-set part of a circular shaft with a carved foliage-capital of the 12th century, found during some recent repairs. In the S. wall is a 12th-century window, much altered, with a modern head. Further W. is the blocked S. doorway with a semi-circular arch, all modern, except some 12th-century internal voussoirs. In the W. wall is a round window, externally quatrefoiled and probably of the 12th century.

The Roofs are modern, but contain a number of old timbers, re-used.

Fittings—Piscina: In nave—built into E. jamb of N.E. window, of pillar form with stop-chamfered angles and round basin. Miscellanea: In nave— scratched on W. external jamb of S. window, Sundial.

CHAPEL OF ST HELEN, Bonhunt Farm, 3/4 m. E. A complete Norman chapel of nave and chancel with a number of plain original windows.

St Mark's College, Audley End, Essex

Although not a church St Mark's College is worthy of inclusion.

Its British Listed Buildings entry reads:

Formerly known as: Abbey Farm and Almshouses AUDLEY END.

Almshouses. 1605-1614. Built by Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk, contemporary with Audley End House, restored and chapel rebuilt c1948-51. Small red bricks in wide jointed English bond with peg-tiled roofs. One and one and a half storeys. Double rectangular courtyard plan with kitchen,
stairs hall and principal hall in line in between the courts and chapel on same axes projecting to E.
W front elevation: essentially symmetrical long range, single storeyed at ends with central block an extra half storey. N and S ends have facade gables with tall, plain, outer, diagonal stacks with ovolo moulded base cornices. Stack form uniform throughout building. Central unit has two 4-centred arched internal porches leading centrally to courts. Whole facade unified by plinth and bold brick ovolo-moulded cornice at first floor eaves level with similar cornice at upper eaves level of central block. Windows of building all comprise narrow, single, double or triple round-headed lights, chamfered and all now with C20 diamond leaded panes in old iron casements, some with stay hooks or friction quadrant stays. Ground floor, porches have inner boarded doors with moulded and studded battens. Outer windows (under gables) of twin lights, central window of triple lights, 7 others across range, either single or double. First floor, N end has double light window in gable, S gable is blank. Central block, has central facade gable with triple lights (over those below) and 2 dormer gables to N and one to S, all with twin lights. Centre window and those on N side are dropped through ovolo cornice and appear to be deepened as an alteration. Single stack and inner paired stacks at each end somewhat rebuilt with grouped triple stacks central behind roof apex. Rear E elevation: similar in style to front, single storeyed range with plinth and cornice, some rebuilding at S end. Chapel projects centrally to E, blocked 4-centred arched doorway each side, once leading to courts, blocking of each has C20 rectangular double casement window. Range has 8 windows with single or paired lights plus one C20 rectangular double casement at each end. 6 stacks in building style, one at each end and one each side of blocked doorways, some rebuilding. Single C20 dormer window in S range with peg-tiled roof and lattice glazed double casement. Chapel of C20 build on old foundations, similar bricks to rest, corner pilaster buttresses at E ends, peg-tiled, gabled roof. N and S sides each have a large brick-built multi-light window in building style of 4x3 lights. E window has rectangular wooden framing with hollow chamfered mullions and transoms, 5x3 lights, diamond latticing with included scattered fragments of late medieval stained glass.

S elevation: uniform, single storeyed range, blank terminal and central facade gables. Symmetrically arranged windows, double-single-double x 3 along range. Terminal stacks and also paired stacks each side of central gable with outer stacks taller than inner, some rebuilding of stacks.

N elevation: somewhat re-built and irregular. E rebuilt in C18 red brickwork, Flemish bond with  some burnt headers, also centre of range has later brickwork apparently infilling 2 doorways (straight joints), arch headed window within one consequently not original. End gables blank but signs of
blocked window at W end. Outer terminal stacks and stack with paired shafts, re-built.

Courts: rectangular, elevations similar to exterior with plinth and ovolo cornice. Centre range of one and a half  storeys. Each now has seven 4-centred arched headed doorways with boarded and battened doors leading to individual tenements. Central cast-iron pump in each. 4-centred arched
entry doorway central to W sides, similar doorways blocked in E sides with C20 rectangular 2-light casement windows. N court: single and twin-light windows on N, E and W sides. 3 additional blocked 4-centred arched doorways on N side. S elevation to communal rooms has 3 triple-light windows and 1 double, also one central upper double window and 2 blocked doors. S side also has 2 dormers with triple casements, W side a single double casement dormer. S court similar to N, with single and double light windows. N elevation (to communal rooms) has 2 external stacks (to hall and ante-room) with double shafts. Large S facing windows, one at E end of 4 lights and 2 at W end (kitchen) of paired upper and lower lights (4 lights each). Central triple window between stacks
(hall) once had upper lights as well - now blocked but showing hall to have present ceiling inserted, being originally full height. 2 additional blocked doors in S side. Dormer window in W range, double casements and 3 similar dormers in N range, one of 3 lights.

INTERIOR: includes fireplaces set diagonally in room corners of tenements, chamfered with arched heads, all now plastered and painted. Fireplace of kitchen (transverse to range) is large, 4-centred arched, with C17 wooden surround, cut down to fit, with bold carved heads, swags and cartouches and remains of paint (from Audley End House?). Fireplace has old quadrant chimney crane and c1800 elaborate grate. Lamb's tongue chamfered stops on stair hall and principal hall joists and
fragment of wind braced, clasped side purlin roof at W end of central block of W front,  commensurate with C17 date of  constuction and subsequent division of hall. Re-built chapel has one original early C17 hammer beam truss, restored and a second truss to E in imitation. Hammer beam has cornice, spandrel over has pair of balusters with shaped upper rail, half baluster to inner post face, pendants below and at collar centre. When the C20 re-building and renovation took place, fragments of re-used medieval glass were removed from the various windows of the college, in particular the kitchen and the SW tenement of the N courtyard, and set within the chapel window. A fragment showing the Virgin and Child is noteworthy. Other stained glass fragments remain in the windows of the hall, stair hall and kitchen.

The plan of the college, with 2 courts separated by the hall and chapel can be paralleled in the contemporary Wadham College, Oxford. The buildings were almshouses used mainly for estate workers. After restoration in 1948-51 they were used to house retired clergy. 1992 vacant awaiting new use.

Sewards End, Essex

Having finished earlier than expected, despite Princess Anne's interference, I decided to do three local churches whilst the sun shone, the first of which was St James in Sewards End.

Neither Pevsner nor Mee has an entry for Sewards End and I have to admit that, despite living more or less alongside it for six years, I never noticed its oddness.

To start is its semi hexagonal apse, then there's the Norman lancet windows and to finish off it has a four legged bellcote the like of which I've never seen and  to end with the extension is a mismatch from hell.

Hats off, however, to a church that appears to be still in regular use.

 

The other two, Wendens Loft's ruin and St Helen's chapel eluded me - next time I'll go with postcodes.

Springfield, Essex

All Saints was my only disappointment of the day not because of what lies within but because it's a rather lovely church but is locked. From what I could see through the windows it didn't look very interesting but Pevsner and Mee say different. If a church contains the "best of the date in Essex" font dating back to the C13th why are we not allowed to appreciate it?

ALL SAINTS. Norman nave, as proved by one N window with Roman brick surround. Early C14 chancel. The renewed windows are shafted inside and have hood-moulds with head-stops. Head-stops also above the Piscina. The C14 W tower with set-back buttresses was repaired and partly rebuilt in brick in 1586. - FONT. Mid C13, and the best of the date in Essex, especially the E side with big, lush stiff leaf scrolls. Two large rosettes each on the other sides. - SCREEN. Tall, with one-light divisions with cusped arches. Dado with various blank tracery motifs. - PANELLING. Early C17, in the chancel. - PAINTINGS. Moses and Aaron, probably late C17. - PLATE. Large Cup of 1658; Paten on foot, perhaps also 1658. - BRASS to Thomas Coggeshall d. 1421; in armour.

SPRINGFIELD. It almost belongs to Chelmsford, but has proud memories of its own. Here walked Oliver Goldsmith, and here we think of one who played his part and gave his life in a deed that will ring through history. It was in a white cottage facing the church that Oliver Goldsmith wrote much of The Deserted Village. He can hardly have been thinking of cheerful Springfield as he wrote of his Sweet Auburn, but we may be sure he knew the sights of this village church, for it was ancient in his day. He would see nearly everything as we see it, the Norman nave with its Roman bricks, the 14th century chancel and vestry, the unusual tracery of the 14th century windows, the Tudor door with its ornamental ironwork. The tower is partly 600 years old; but the parapet, turret, and buttresses are modern. On a doorway to the chancel are three sundials. There is a traceried screen of the 15th century, much restored; a coffin lid 600 years old; a brass portrait of a man in the armour worn at Agincourt; a Tudor funeral helm; and a big 17th century painting of Moses with a censer. The font is one of the best 12th century fonts in Essex, with big flowers and foliage on the bowl and waterlilies below. In the tower are several old gravestones, one of Sir Thomas Stampe who was Lord Mayor of London and died in Queen Anne’s time; another with a famous name, an unknown Joseph Chamberlaine of 1692. There is old glass from the 14th century to the 17th, including shields and parts of figures, one a man with a purse and another probably St John drinking from a cup. Panels of Flemish glass show the Descent from the Cross and the Entombment.

But the thing that stirs us most within these walls is a flag of our own day. It flew at Zeebrugge. It was the White Ensign flown on the North Star in one of the most heroic and terrible exploits in the story of the Navy, and it is treasured in this chancel because Lieutenant Charles Paynter, who fell in that great hour, was the vicar’s son, only 23 when he died. Moving it is to think that the flag he fought under has come home to the place where his father prayed for him in the darkest hours of the Great War.

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