Five Essex Churches

Or

What to do with your Father-in-Law on a late autumn Saturday

Fed up with being told how lovely Ongar Church is we decided to plan to go out for the day on Saturday rather than the usual Sunday. Sunday is more relaxing but less conducive to wandering around churches as they tend to have stuff going on in them...

I haven't included much on the history of these churches as others have written this and that's what links are for. I'd just like to draw your attention to them and that they're in such a small area.

After stopping at Ashlyns Organic Farm to pick up supplies for Sunday Dinner, we went forth into the Essex countryside to seek out as many churches as we could find before dark. We picked up a rather lovely joint of organic beef together with some splendid vegetables, see picture on right, which went down a treat. I don't usually photograph vegetables but this was just such a strange looking thing and I didn't get exactly what it was. I believe it's calebrese but I could be wrong. I do know it was too nice to be cauliflower.

St Martins, Ongar,

After hearing so much about Ongar church it was great to actually see it. It's just off the High Street so you need to keep your eyes open.

There is limited on street parking in the next road. The roads either side and the building shielding it from the road are all fairly old and this gives the church an atmosphere of calm which you wouldn't get if it opened straight onto the street

The wooden ceiling beams are very old and parts apparently date back to Saxon times.

Useful Links:

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=15630

St Andrew, Greensted

This was the most fabulous church. This has its own brown road signs which usually means you're coming up to something quite special.

It's said to date from 850 AD but there has been some dispute about this and it might only go back to 1100 AD. Either way it's very old and very beautiful.

You can't really see from the pictures but it's made of wood and the oldest wooden building in Europe, possibly the world. Outside the door, to the right of the path, is a crusaders grave, although the details of the particular crusader whose grave it marks are lost.

Inside, you can see the age of the wooden walls and can see where development took place by the changes in character. The flash makes the photos a bit too clear to convey the atmosphere of the church. This is helped by the stall of produce produced for sale at the church which is found just inside the door.

The mint sauce is wonderful but the mustard is nothing special. Don't forget to keep some change for these goodies.

Useful Links:

http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=15555

http://www.bloxwich.demon.co.uk/vag/walker/aisled1.htm

http://www.vars.freewire.co.uk/misc/g_stead.htm

St Lawrence, Blackmore

Next was the church of St Lawrence in the village of Blackmore. It was a bit difficult to find and we did find ourselves leaving the village having missed the exact turn off, turning around and trying to navigate towards the spire.

Very lovely from the outside we found an unexpected treat as we went inside: the choir were rehearsing and they were very good. We noticed as we were leaving that there was a concert in the church that evening so that was probably the final rehearsal. I think those that attended the History of Plainsong may have seen something quite special. If you get a chance to see this choir, take it.

While the gorgeous singing added to atmosphere, this church had a quality about it which seemed both ancient and modern at the same time. In addition to notes about the history of the building, there were photos and notices about the current work of the parish. This gave a sense of relevance which is sometimes missing in these buildings. This was not some old building preserved for the architecture. This was a living, breathing centre of the community.

Distressingly, there isn't much on the web about this church except on a concert site, listing their carol service. Definitely worth a visit, especially as there are a few welcoming pubs in the village. Sadly we didn't have chance to partake of their hospitality.

St Marys, Freyerning

This church is next to the main road, so you need to keep your eyes open or you'll drive straight past.

Quite without planning we'd moved from wooden square tower/spires to brick square towers. We didn't have very long here, as they were closing up but our quick sweep revealed another interesting church.

The windows here were of interest, this is a modern window, see link below for more information, but there was also a window commemorating Airy Neave. His window brings together the themes of Westminster, Ulster and Colditz; I was unaware of this connection.

There is also a family monument for Disney and this is in fact an ancestor of Walt Disney; the family having been resident in this area before moving to America at the end of the nineteenth century. There is also a plaque to the Disney family in St Lawrences.

Useful Links:

http://www.fryerningparishchurch.org.uk/

http://www.sandles-glass.co.uk/stainedglass_traditional.asp

http://www.aireyneavetrust.org.uk/aireyneave.htm

We failed to get to Ingatestone Church before it closed, although we did get there before dark. It was certainly a handsome building from the outside.

http://www.ingatestoneparishchurch.org.uk/

A fabulous book, if you like investigating churches, is England's Thousand Best Churches by Simon Jenkins. Certain members of the family have a copy of this in the car so that if they suddenly find themselves at leisure they can see if there's an interesting church nearby.