BRAUGHING HUNDRED BISH op's stortford 



Commissioners, who about 1 900 sold it to Sir Walter 

 Gilbey, bart., who has a minute book of the courts 

 from 1656-1806. No courts are held now and the 

 copyholders have been nearly all enfranchised. 49 The 

 site of the manor was held on lease by the Denny 

 family in the 1 8th century. It passed from them to 

 the Sandfords, to the Bromes, to the Debarys, and is 

 now owned and occupied by the Misses Lee, nieces 

 of the late Rev. Thomas Debary. 50 The manor- 

 house stands about three-quarters of a mile north-east 

 of the church. It is of timber and plaster, of two 

 stories with attic, and was built probably about 1600. 

 It has, however, been almost completely encased with 

 brick early in the 18th century. An original window 

 remains with moulded wooden mullions. 



label stops are carved ; the piers are composed of 

 four semi-octagonal shafts with moulded capitals and 

 bases ; the westernmost piers are wider than the 

 others, and are each practically two responds, back 

 to back with a vertical joint between them, these 

 bays being probably built last as a connecting link 

 between the tower and the nave. Over each arch 

 of the nave arcades is a clearstory window of two 

 lights, of modern stonework, but the inner jambs 

 appear to be original. The low pitched king-post 

 roof is of 15th-century date ; the spandrels under 

 the trusses are filled with tracery ; the roof rests on 

 stone corbels carved with figures of angels with 

 shields and of saints with their emblems. 



The hous< 

 panelling 



some 17th-century 



The church of ST. 

 CHURCHES MICHAEL stands on 

 rising ground close to 

 the centre of the town, and consists of 

 chancel 43 ft. by 22 ft., north chapel 

 43 ft. by 14 ft., south vestry and organ 

 chamber, nave 85 ft. by zo ft. 6 in., 

 north aisle 84 ft. by 1; ft., south 

 aisle 84 ft. by 14 ft., north porch 

 14 ft. 6 in. by \z ft., south porch 

 1 2 ft. by 9 ft. 6 in., west tower 1 7 ft. 

 by 16 ft.; all dimensions taken in- 

 ternally. 



The church is built of flint with 

 stone dressings ; the walls are em- 

 battled ; the roofs are covered with 

 lead. The building belongs to the 

 early part of the 15th century. In 

 1 8 1 2 the spire and portions of the 

 tower were taken down, the present 

 belfry stage built, and a new spire 

 erected ; about the end of the 17th or 

 beginning of the 18th century the 

 chancel was lengthened eastwards by 

 about J ft- 6 in-; in 1870 the north 

 chancel aisle and south vestry were 

 built; in 1885 the chancel clearstory 

 was added, the chancel arch rebuilt, 

 and an organ chamber erected on the 

 south side of the chancel, and at various 

 periods during the 19th century the 

 whole church was thoroughly restored. 

 The west tower and westernirost bay 

 of the nave appear to be somewhat 

 later than the rest of the church, as 

 may be inferred from the church- BisHt 



wardens' accounts for 1431. 61 



In the east wall of the chancel is a large five-light 

 modern window, and in the south wall one of three 

 lights, the tracery of which has been renewed ; in 

 the south wall is a trefoil -headed piscina with a 

 modern sill. The sedilia are modern. The truss 

 roof appears to be of 15th-century work, the date 

 1668 appearing on one of the tie-beams probably 

 refers to repairs only • the spandrels of the roof 

 trusses are filled with tracery. 



The nave is of six bays ; the arches are of two 

 moulded orders with a hollow between, and the 



On the south sirh 

 ; turret which 



loft ; the 



Th, 



wall and 



stonework, all but 

 original. The north 

 is moulded and the „ 

 The head over the 

 spandrels are carved, 

 with an eye looking 



:h from the South-west 



of the north aisle at the east end 

 contained the stair to the rood- 

 e, but the upper and lower door- 

 re are five windows in the north 

 east, all of three lights of modern 

 the inner jambs, which are 

 doorway is original; the arch 

 jambs have small moulded capitals. 

 pointed arch is square and the 

 one with the figure of a woman 

 down on her, the other with an 



<9 Information from Mr. J. L. Glass- 



s: Payments made for covering, with 

 straw and lead, the walls of church and 

 tower, and of levelling the western part 



of the nave floor (se. 

 0/ St. Michael's, i 

 1882). 



acock, R cc . 

 Stortford, 



