A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



built in 1 839 at the south end of Piercing Hill opposite 

 the entrance to the churchyard. It is a square house of 

 gault brick with the date inscribed on a stone near the 

 front door. 



John Strype (1643-1737), ecclesiastical historian 

 and biographer, was curate of Theydon Bois in 

 1669-70.** 



In 1349 St. Bartholomew's Priory acquired from 

 Edmund de Grymesby, king's clerk, 30 acres of land 

 and 3 acres of wood in Theydon Bois, with certain 

 lands in Middlesex, to find a chaplain to celebrate in 

 the conventual church every year on Edmund's anni- 

 versary for his soul, and to feed five poor persons on the 

 same day for ever.*^ The lands in Theydon were held 

 of Waltham Abbey and were worth only 2 Jd'. an acre 

 because they were sterile and rocky. The woodland 

 was worth only 3</. an acre because it was devastated.** 

 In 1359 ^^^ priory further acquired from Master 

 Richard de Shamelesford a messuage, a toft, and 91 

 acres of land, a lane called Pakeswey, and 2s. 6J. rent 

 in Theydon Bois and Theydon Garnon, in satisfaction 

 of £6 out of ;£20 a year of land and rent which it had 

 royal licence to acquire.*' These lands, lying partly 

 within the forest, were worth only 27/. a year.'" 



The old parish church of ST. MART, which may 

 earlier have been dedicated to ST. BOTOLPHp^ 

 stood next to Theydon Hall, about J mile north of 

 Abridge Bridge. An engraving of 18 14 shows a view 

 of the church from the south. '^ It was a small build- 

 ing with nave, chancel, south porch, and wooden bell- 

 turret at the west end of the nave. In the chancel was 

 a single-light window and door. In the nave were two 

 single-light windows and two blocked openings. The 

 building may well have been of the 12th century, 

 though the drawing is too crude to prove it.'^ In 

 about 1770 there was said to be neither monument 

 nor inscription in the church,'* and in 1819 'neither 

 monument nor inscription of note','5 but two monu- 

 ments from the old church are in fact preserved in the 

 present building. 



In 1843 the parish vestry resolved to build a new 

 church in a more central situation, and a faculty was 

 accordingly obtained. The old church was pulled 

 down, the materials being sold for ^^78 and the barrel 

 organ for ,{^20.'* The site is now marked only by a 

 few tombstones overgrown with grass and young trees. 



The new church was erected at Theydon Green at 

 a total cost of ^^2,231. Among the subscribers was 

 Queen Adelaide, who gave {jio."" The curate, George 

 Hambleton, published a poem of 418 lines 'to seek 

 agreeably to delineate to those who have kindly helped 

 forward the cause of Theydon Bois new church, the 

 extreme desirableness of this erection'. A further £^\ 20 

 then (1843) remained to be raised. To the poem was 

 prefixed a view and plan of the new building, by 

 Abbott and Habersham, architects, St. Neots. The 

 church consisted of chancel, nave and west tower. 



The accommodation was for 360 and the value of the 

 contract ^1,458.'* The church was consecrated in 

 1844, but owing to faulty construction it had to be 

 taken down in 1850 and the present church was then 

 built in its place. 



The present church of St. Mary, the third to bear 

 this dedication and the second on the present site, was 

 designed by Sydney Smirke and consecrated in 1 8 5 1 ." 

 The cost was about ^^2,000; the curate paid half this 

 amount and the other half was provided by the archi- 

 tects of the previous church.*" The church consists of 

 a nave, chancel, north vestry, and large western tower 

 with spire. The belfry stage of the tower and the tall 

 spire are octagonal. The building is of red brick with 

 stone dressings. Internal repairs were carried out in 

 1887, 1901, and 1906. The spire was covered with 

 copper in 1920.*' 



There are three bells, two of which came from the 

 medieval church. The first was recast in 1843 by 

 Thomas Mears. The second was cast about 1460 by 

 John Danyell and is inscribed Sancta Margareta Ora 

 Pro Nobis. The third, dated 1567, was probably by 

 Robert Dodds. There were three bells in the church 

 in 1552. The bell frame is dated 1727.*^ Owing to 

 its condition the bells have not been rung for about 

 100 years, but are only chimed. *3 



No plate survives from the earliest church. The 

 oldest existing piece is a paten of 1 804, given in 1 844 

 by Sir Edward Bowyer-Smijth.'* 



The pulpit, which is of walnut, was given in 1900 

 as a memorial to the Revd. C. E. Campbell, formerly 

 vicar. It was designed by Paul Waterhouse.*' New 

 oak benches for the choir and other furnishings have 

 been installed within the past five years. 



The royal coat-of-arms of James I hangs over the 

 west door.** There are six other hatchments, four of 

 the Wild family of Theydon Hall and two of the Dares. 

 There is also a monument to the Dare family, dated 

 1 8 10, and below the chancel is their vault, containing 

 thirteen coffins, at least seven of which must have been 

 brought from the medieval church.*' On the south side 

 of the nave is a wall monument to Samuel Wild (1817) 

 and his wife Elizabeth (1844). Below this a marble 

 tablet and a painted inscription set out Elizabeth Wild's 

 charitable bequests. Among the later monuments is 

 one to George Hambleton (1874), vicar for 34 years. 

 The stained glass in the east window was also given in 

 his memory. Another stained window is a recent 

 memorial to the Buxton family, patrons of the vicarage, 

 and there is also one to Frances Mary Buss, who is 

 buried in the churchyard. 



For several years about 1885 occasional services and 

 Sunday schools were held in a mission hut at Ivy 

 Chimneys. In 1895 a second-hand 'iron room' was 

 bought for ^84 and erected on a site in Theydon Road 

 at the branch road to Great Gregories and opposite 

 Delaford Cottage. The total cost with fittings was 



" D.N.B. 



«' Cal.Pat. 1348-50,270. 



" C143/294/6. 



M Cal. Pat. 1358-61, 185; cf. ibid. 



1334-8, 542- \ 



'» Webb, Rtcs. of St. Bartholomeiv'i 

 Priory,;, jji. 



■" P.N. Euex (E.P.N.S.), 82-83. 



" E. Ogborne, Hist. Etsex, 257. 



" If the earlier dedication to St. Botolph 

 i» accepted there may have been a Saxon 

 church on the same site. 



'♦ Hitt. Esux ty Gent, iii, 411. 



'5 Excursions in Essex, n, 48. 



'* St. Mary's, Theydon Bois (pamphlet on 

 sale in church); Theydon Bois Official 

 Guide (2nd edn.), 10. 



77 St. Mary's, Theydon Bois. 



" C. Hambleton, Picture of Theydon 

 5ok(i843). 



" St. Mary's, Theydon Bois; Pevsner, 

 Buildings of England, Essex, 351. Smirke 

 had designed St. John's Church, Loughton 

 (q.v.), a few years earlier. 



«» Ibid. 



256 



*' Kelly's Dir. Essex {Kj^y). Forarecent 

 photograph of the church see plate facing 

 p. 270. 



*' Ch. Bells Essex, 410— II. 



*3 St. Mary's, Theydon Bait. 



8* Ibid.; Ch. Plate Essex, 104. 



85 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1937). 



^ St. Mary's, Theydon Bois, mentions 

 other James I royal arms, which are rare, 

 at Blisland in Cornwall, Winsford in 

 Somerset, and Marham in Norfolk. 



8' Inf. from Mr. A. E. B. Williams. 



