A HISTORY OF ESSEX 



of being an accessory to murder, and in 1624 he was 

 deprived of his benefice.*' 



At the Dissolution of the Chantries in 1 548 there 

 were found to be obits in the church of Theydon 

 Garnon supported by annual rents of 8/. \d., 6s. 3J., 

 and 6s. %J., charged on the lands of John Rogers, 

 Richard Archer, and John Archer respectively.'" The 

 rents were granted in 1 549 to Robert Woode of the 

 Inner Temple." 



The church oi ALL SALNTS consists of nave and 

 chancel, north aisle, north porch, south porch, north 

 vestry, and west tower. The walls of nave and chancel 

 are of flint rubble and those of the tower, aisle, and north 

 porch are of brick. The chancel probably dates from 

 the 13th century. The nave appears to have been re- 

 built in the 15th century. The tower was built about 

 1520. In 1644 the north aisle and north porch were 

 added and a north arcade of timber built. The south 

 porch was built in the 18th century, and in the 19th 

 century there were numerous alterations including the 

 addition of a north vestry and organ chamber. The 

 church is of special interest from its dated tower of 

 1 5 20 and dated north aisle of 1644. 



The chancel, which was probably built in the 13 th 

 century, has in its south wall a 13th century lancet 

 window, and on the north side a niche of uncertain date. 

 There is no structural division between chancel and nave. 



In the 1 5th century the nave was probably rebuilt. 

 In the south wall there is a I jth-century window of 

 three cinquefoiled lights in a segmental-pointed head, 

 with moulded label and the arms of Gernon.'^ Also 

 in the south wall is a 15th-century doorway with 

 moulded jambs and a two-centred arch under a square 

 moulded label with traceried spandrels. The east 

 window in the chancel is also of the 15th century. It 

 has four cinquefoiled lights with vertical tracery in a 

 two-centred head. 



About 1 520 the west tower was added. It is of red 

 brick, with some blue brick, of three stages with an 

 embattled parapet. The date is recorded on a stone 

 panel on the outside of the south wall, where it is stated 

 that Sir John Crosbe, late alderman and grocer of 

 London, and his wives Anne and Annes gave ^^50 to- 

 wards the building of the tower. '^ 



The north aisle and porch were built in 1644. They 

 are of red brick which it is interesting to compare with 

 the earlier brick of the tower. The date is picked out 

 in dark brick on a panel on the outside of the east wall 

 of the aisle. A corresponding panel on the outside of 

 the west wall has the letters i. h. The timber arcade 

 which divides the nave from the aisle also dates from 

 1644. It consists of five bays with octagonal oak 

 columns and semi-octagonal oak responds. The oak 

 arches are roughly three-centred to the east bays and 

 semicircular to the west bays and have a horizontal 

 moulded fascia above them mitred down in the middle 

 of each arch to form a key block. The nave roof was 

 probably reconstructed at this time but retains several 

 rebated king-posts of the 15th century. Along the 



»9 Ad! ofP.C. 1 62 1-3, 44.2; Cal. S.P. 

 Dom. 1623-5, 285; ibid. 1625-6,482. 



'» £301/30/74; E. Ogborne, Hist. 

 Ettex, 261. 



" Cal. Pat. 1549-51,96. 



9* Thomas Gcrnon, last of his name to 

 hold the manor of Theydon Garnon, was 

 dead by 1428—9: see Manors, above. 



*3 Crosbe's connexion with Theydon 

 Garnon has not been discovered. The 

 mention of his two wives suggests that 



south side of the nave are two gabled dormer windows. 

 These were largely remodelled in the 19th century but 

 the frames probably date from 1 644. 



During the 17th century several other new windows 

 were added. In the chancel are two windows, one on 

 the north wall and one on the south, both having two 

 pointed lights, and the west window of the tower is also 

 probably of the same century. 



In 1762 repairs were carried out on the church cost- 

 ing over ;^loo. The largest part of this sum, £6j, was 

 for carpenter's work, including roof repairs.'* In 1770 

 there is said to have been a gallery in the north aisle." 

 It is not clear what form this then took. In 1774 the 

 parish vestry released to John Deakins and the future 

 occupiers of his dwelling the seat where the psalm 

 singers used to sit on the north side of the church, in 

 return for 15 guineas towards the building of a singers' 

 gallery.'* The balance of the carpenter's bill towards 

 the building of the gallery was paid in December 

 1774." The restoration of the north porch and the 

 insertion of the west doorway in the tower also took 

 place in the i8th century. 



The Revd. Sir Cavendish Foster, Bt., rector from 

 1843 to 1887, substantially altered the church. In 

 1 863 the gallery was removed '* and five new windows 

 inserted in the aisle, three in the north, one in the east, 

 and one in the west wall." The previous north wall 

 windows are said to have been wide and square with 

 wooden frames and the previous east window small 

 and square." The east window has now been blocked. 

 Further restorations appear to have been carried out 

 during Foster's incumbency.^ The vestry and organ 

 chamber were added in 1892 at the expense of the 

 Revd. C. G. B. Hotham, Foster's successor as rector, 

 and W. S. Chisenhale-Marsh of Gaynes Park. 3 A new 

 heating apparatus was installed in 1899 at the expense 

 of the Kemsley family .t 



A glazed screen between the west end of the nave 

 and the tower was erected by the Chisenhale-Marsh 

 family as a memorial to those who fell in the First 

 World War. In 1934 general repairs to the church 

 were carried out and the lancet window in the south 

 wall of the chancel, which had been blocked for several 

 centuries, was opened at the expense of Mr. Hugh 

 Kemsley. 5 Further repairs have been done during the 

 past ten years. 



The communion rails were set up in 1683-4 at a 

 cost of £'^., in obedience to the orders of the archdeacon 

 at his visitation of 1683.* The pulpit is a 'two-decker' 

 and has a large sounding-board of the early i8th 

 century. There are three chairs of the same period in 

 the chancel. Some 16th-century seats formerly in the 

 nave were removed about 1920. ^ There is 16th- 

 century panelling on the south wall of the nave and 

 some of about 1 700 in the tower. In the vestry is a 

 large oak chest with iron bands given in 1668 by Sir 

 John Archer. 8 In it are some manorial records.' At 

 the west end of the nave is an oak door-frame taken 

 from the Priest's House (see below). 



the building of the tower took a consider- 

 able time, but was completed about 1520. 

 «♦ E.R.O., D/P 152/5/3. 

 " Hist. Essex by Gent, iii, 405. 

 9' E.R.O., D/P 1 52/8/1. 

 «' E.R.O., D/P 152/12/5. 

 " E.R. XXXV, 196. 

 99 Ibid. 200. 

 ■ Ibid. 



» Kelly s Dir. Essex (1870 f.). 

 J Ibid. (1906). 



* Ibid. Joseph Kemsley, church- 

 warden, had died in 1897 : see below. 



5 Kelly's Dir. Essex (1937). 



« E.R.O., D/P 1 52/5/1 i E.A.T. N.s. 

 xix, 273. 



' Hist. Mon. Com. Essex, ii, 233. 



8 H. W. Lewer and J. C. Wall, Ckurch 

 Chests dJ Essex ^ 206—8. 



9 W. C. Waller, 'An old church chest', 

 E.A.T. N.s. V, 1-32, 200. 



270 



