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The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin Little Hallingbury A short history from the 10th to the 21st century June 2022

2 Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin Little Hallingbury Harlow Deanery Diocese of Chelmsford It is almost certain but difficult to prove, that the first Church on this site was a wood-en one, built by the Saxons between the years 1035 and 1050. The possible builder was the thegn or nobleman who owned land here, named Tosti or Earl Tostig, brother of Harold. This wooden church was rebuilt by the Normans in about the year 1090 using stone and Roman bricks. We know that our church is mentioned in the Domesday Book, compiled in 1085. This is unusual since the basis for the Domesday Book entry was that the property was liable for taxation and churches were not so regarded. This is the quotation translated from the original Latin: - ‘Martel holds from Geoffrey which Asgar (or Esgar) held before 1066, one hide, one priest, one villein with 20 acres which belonged to the Church but not in 1087, 4 bordas and 2 serfs.’ The “Geoffrey” mentioned is Geoffrey de Mandeville, Lord of Essex, a Norman noble and founder of the Priory at Walden. The “before 1066” means probably during the reign of Edward the Confessor who reigned from 1042 to 1066. The Saxon church has left no remains above ground and has probably been covered by the subsequent Norman rebuilding. The oldest parts are the South wall and part of the West wall which are nearly 3 feet thick and in which was used a lot of Roman brick. If you look outside on these walls you can see a lot of Roman brick and tile. The complete arch of the South door is Roman brick while a window high up, blocked many years ago used Roman bricks also. This material came from what was later a gravel pit near South House Farm. During gravel extractions many years ago three Celtic Burial Urns were uncovered, one with calcined remains still inside. These have been on permanent loan since 1988 in the Museum in Saffron Walden.

3 There were three Roman villas on this site, from AD 80 till AD 350, the last one being quite extensive. This pit is now exhausted, has been filled in and become farmland. The early Church was contained in the present Nave and ended by the present step into the choir. See the small lancet window at the end of the South wall in the Nave; this was probably a window into the original chancel. Also from about this time is the narrow niche in the South wall of the Nave. Possibly this marked the end of the Nave where an arch separated the Nave from the Chancel. It might later have housed a small statuette of St Mary. In the 13th century extending the Chancel to the East to its present day length extended the Church. Two plain windows were provided on each side of the Chancel and a triple lancet over the altar. One of the South windows was removed when the vestry was add-ed in the mid 19th century. The piscina in the South wall of the chancel also dates from the 13th century. The 14th century again saw changes, this time architectural ones, when the ‘Decorated style’ became fashionable. Larger windows were now the thing and the three-light one in the middle of the South wall of the Nave was provided. The timber porch at the South door is also dated to the 14th Century and is a good example of the fine woodwork current at this period. Look at the unusual design of the squashed circles with ogee tops and bot-toms. Most fortunately this is still almost exactly as it was built. Sadly a similar porch over the North door was removed in the middle of the 19th Century. A small single light window at the Western end of the South wall of the Nave is also from the 14th Century. The glazing is much later but is probably similar to the original. Spare a moment to look at the small window in the choir in the North wall. Several suggestions have been made for its use. One is a leper window. Another is for the Rector’s use so that he could observe when a coffin was approaching at the beginning of a funeral. Also from the 14th Century is our first knowledge of a bell to call the faithful to church. It is 26 inches in diameter, but has no inscription or makers name, only a raised band round the shoulder. Evidence from elsewhere suggests that it was cast by John de Hadham in 1335. Perhaps this bell was suspended from a beam in the apex of the roof at the West end. The next work we know about was the Nave having to be re-roofed. When this was being done a small square turret was built between 1420 and 1450 to house a second bell. This bell is 32 inches diameter and could have been cast by three different possible

4 makers. The first is William Wodeward; the second is John Dawe, son of a bell founder, William Dawe. The third candidate is John Langthorne. It has a Latin inscription on it. ‘Eternis annis resonet campana Johannes’ A present day inscription would most likely be, ‘May John’s bell ring for ever.’ From about this time a Marriage Room was provided. Once a feature commonly found in many Essex villages, the Marriage Room was probably provided by the church. The structure still exists but is now two cottages, opposite the church and next to Malting Farm. The nearest Marriage Room still in its original state is in Matching alongside the church there. The Chancel roof needed a lot of attention during the 16th Century; it may even have required complete rebuilding. The 16th Century was a time of great change in England with the Reformation, the dissolution of the monasteries and sometimes alterations to church buildings. Although Church life here must have undergone many changes little seems to have altered the fabric of our church. For centuries the ownership of the Manor of a village, a farm, a large house, etc. gave the right to the holder of the Manor to appoint the incumbent of the living of the church within the Manor’s area. The families of de Neville, Bourchier and Devereux were amongst these owners. The latter families were Earls of Essex. The ownership of Little Hallingbury now passed to Thomas Sutton who bought the Manor from Richard Devereux, Earl of Essex in 1588. Thomas Sutton, who was born in 1531, had a varied life. He travelled widely in Europe, fought in several wars, owned coal mines in Newcastle and had traded far and wide. By the time he bought the Manor in 1588 he was a wealthy man and had settled in London. He bought several Manors, one being that of Littlebury in Essex. He married a rich widow of Littlebury whose name was Elizabeth, and whose husband had been John Dudley, of the Earl Dudley family. Thomas Sutton was also related to the Dudley family who are the Earls of Warwick and Leicester. It would appear that he married the wid-ow of a cousin. They had no children but decided to found a school for boys and a ’hospital for poverty stricken gentlemen soldiers or merchants ruined by piracy or shipwreck and who were good servants of the Queen.’ Their choice fell on Little Hallingbury for the school and hospital because the manor included Stone Hall as well as a lot of farmland. He had also bought Howard House, previously a Carthusian priory, in London. Before the plans became a reality his wife died and Thomas Sutton changed his mind. In 1621 he established both the school and the hospital at Howard House in London, naming it Sutton’s Hospital in Charterhouse. Much later the school grew too large for the London site and was moved to Godalming in Surrey where it has become one of England’s major public schools.

5 Sutton presented the land and the Manor to the Governors of Charterhouse who thus became the patrons of the living of the Church of St Mary, Little Hallingbury. Thomas appointed John Fish as Rector in 1610 but the Governors of Charterhouse appointed the next Rector, John Sherwell in 1669. Sutton’s Hospital in Charterhouse Contact is maintained with Charterhouse in London, the Master and Preacher visit, the latter preaching on occasions. Little Hallingbury is also remembered at the school. Since 1929 all deceased Brothers of the Charterhouse can be buried, if they or their families have expressed the wish, in a special section of the churchyard that is owned by the Governors of Charterhouse. In the late 20th Century a section of Charterhouse owned land was converted into a village car park. Thomas Sutton was remembered in at least two pub-lic houses named Sutton Arms, one in Carthusian Street near The Charterhouse in London and until recently the other near Stone Hall in the South of Little Hallingbury, until it was sold as a private house. A residential development off Goose Lane has been named Sutton Acres.

6 Towards the end of the 17th Century the Houblons enter into our history. They were Huguenots who came to England during the 16th Century. They were one of the founders of the Bank of England and were a wealthy family. Some of the family bought land in both Great and Little Hallingbury. In 1770 they built Hallingbury Place in Great Hallingbury. In an age which did not have such respect for large houses, this mansion was pulled down, the land divided up, and a house built from some of the pieces and some outbuildings turned into houses. In 1920 the Houblons, to become Archer-Houblons by marriage, supported the building of the church schools, both here and in Great Hallingbury. At the end of the 17th Century, in 1683, a third bell was added to the other two. This was in between the others in size, being 29 inches in diameter. It was cast by William Wightman and inscribed ‘Edward Tredgole, Churchwarden 1682.’ It is possible that it may have been cast from an earlier bell. Records were not as specific as they are now and we cannot be sure of some of these facts. Our earliest Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths date from February 1711. Any earlier ones have disappeared, but ours from 1711 have been deposited in the Essex record Office. In 1712 a new bell turret was reckoned to be needed, so complete with steeple and weathervane it was built in almost the exact form you can see today. It must have been very noisy before in the church when the bells were rung preceding a service since the bells were almost inside. To light the belfry a small quatrefoil opening was put in. This was made from a very hard stone as we discovered when doing some stone restoration in 1981. During the first half of the 19th Century the population of England, as well as that of the village, was increasing and it was necessary to enlarge the capacity of the church. To do this the North wall of the Nave was removed, the roof supported by four stone columns, and a complete new aisle built with a lead covered sloping roof. In 1860 the population of the village was just over 500 with three shops, a butcher, the blacksmith and several public houses. In 1945 the population was just about the same, while at present it is nearer 2000. The architect for the enlargement of the church was G E Pritchett, from Bishop’s Stortford, the son of a former Rector who had been for 14 years at the Charterhouse before coming here as Rector in 1835. To light the new aisle five new windows were put in the new walls. A new Chancel arch was made, a vestry added and a lot of restoration work was done on the exterior stonework. The walls inside were plastered so we know little of what they looked like before. A Norman style font was

7 added, the Nave had a new internal roof, with access from the belfry and a central newel post was inserted. The Chancel had a hammer beam rood with shields and carved wall plates. In 1885 the present organ was built, using part of the vestry. Before the alterations to the church there had been a musicians gallery under the bell tower. Plans from this date show the existence of two galleries. Since it was many years before electricity was available the organ had to be hand pumped. A few of the older members of the village remember the job of pumping during the hymns to keep the bellows full and the indicating weight above the minimum. The Reredos, the screen behind the altar, was put up as a memorial to the Reverend Stanley Pemberton by his son and daughters. He died in 1880 and his wife died in 1894. He had been Rector for 31 years. Some years ago when the church was being decorated a piscina was discovered behind this reredos. In 1900 the bell tower was struck by lightning and had to be rebuilt. This was completed in 1901, a copy of the original of 1712, and as we see it today. The oak eagle lectern was given in memory of the Rev J J Baker, Rector for 36 years from 1880 to 1915. The latter half of the 20th Century seemed to have more than its share of structural difficulties. Perhaps this is because it is nearer to us and the details more precisely recorded. In 1963 our biggest bell, ‘John’s bell’ cracked! We took advantage of a new technique, which our bell founders, Mears and Stainbank, knew about in Denmark. It was now possible to weld a crack in a bronze casting of a bell without upsetting its tone. So it was removed and sent over to Denmark and returned apparently perfect again. However, not long after, it cracked again in 1965! This time the technique was used by Mears and Stainbank at their Whitechapel foundry. They subsequently advised that to forestall another crack appearing that the bells no longer be swung, which makes the clapper strike very hard on the bell. The bells are now stationary and the clappers are only gently striking the bell. The ringing of the three bells needed at least two people unless you are very adept as was a previous sexton, he rang one bell with each hand and for the third he put his foot in a loop round the bell rope and thus could ring our usual three bell chime. Now with the three bell ropes next to each other in a carillon one person can ring all three. Part of the work involved in maintaining the fabric of an old church in good order is to have it regularly inspected by an architect. This is done at five yearly intervals,

8 called the Quinquennial Inspection. The 1967 Quinquennial inspection revealed death watch beetle and dry rot requiring smelly and expensive treatment lasting for some months. In addition to which the church heating was brought up to date, previously the winter heating had been provided by a coal-fired boiler this was replaced with an oil-fired system. In 1975 the roof needed attention. This meant all the tiles coming off, renewal of many battens, insulation and the replacement of the tiles. To pay for that we “Raised the Roof”. At a time when the price of lead reached a peak the roof over the North Aisle proved too attractive to thieves, who, without anyone being any the wiser stripped it off in January 1979. They removed one half on one night and in spite of it being covered to prevent rain entering they removed the second half two nights later! The roof is now covered in a specially treated stainless steel, the same as that fitted to the Thames Flood Barrier. The 1982 Quinquennial disclosed that a lot of the exterior stonework was suffering from the effects of the ever increasing amount of sulphur in the air, which with rain forms sulphuric acid, fatal to the stone used. After much consultation a stone was chosen which hopefully is better able to withstand the acid attack. In 1960, 1975 and 1989 blue carpets were placed in the church. In 1987 the women of the village embarked on a project to replace existing blue kneelers with new ones. These were all to a standard design done in canvas work with the centres showing aspects of village life or as a memorial to some person, a coat of arms etc. On each long side of a kneeler is worked ‘St Mary the Virgin Little Hallingbury’. On the short sides are the serial number of the kneeler, the initials of the person who did the work and the year of completion. These have all been photographed and the details entered into an album that is well worth studying. As part of this work a set of three long kneelers was made for the altar rails, a set of cushions for the choir and a very special kneeler for the bride and bridegroom to kneel on by the Chancel steps during a marriage service. Also two male members of the congregation made a hand made carpet, originally for in front of the altar but when this was moved forward the carpet was placed at the rear. In 1962 a processional cross was presented. The church was redecorated in 1966 and again in 1987. 1979 saw the rewiring of the church when many new lights were added to those already there making the building much more attractive after dark. In 1994 the Vestry was enlarged, including kitchen and cloakroom facilities. This has blended in with the existing building to such an extent that many people are surprised that it is such a recent addition until they enter it. Once again in 2005 / 2006 extensive alterations took place. This time it was the floor

9 that came in for some attention. After discovering a bad case of dry rot under the wooden section of the Nave floor this was replaced so that the whole floor is now tiled, with under floor heating. This is now gas fired as the oil boiler failed while the floor was being replaced. This new flooring meant the replacement of the old pews with chairs making the church more comfortable and better suited to the needs of modern worship. The floor space is adaptable and the chairs can be moved around for a variety of events, even being used by the school for a short time when they required some extra space. The new tiles match those that were originally in place surrounding the previous wooden flooring having been made by the same manufacturer at least 150 years apart. Before refurbishment A mid-week communion after refurbishment

10 For those who like to look at memorials in churches the details below give us as much as we know about them. The East window and the two in the North wall of the Chancel are new. The East window depicts the Living Christ. The two other windows show the emblems of the Bishop of Chelmsford and the Suffragan Bishop of Barking. These windows replace those broken by a bomb during World War II. The Horsleys, who are commemorated by plaques and windows, were one-time owners of Gastons on Gaston Green. The West window contains an interesting pair. They are in memory of G E Pritchett, the architect of the Victorian changes, and his wife. The right hand window shows St Etheldreda who founded the double monastery of Ely and was its first Abbess. She died in 679. The remains of her shrine is marked in the floor of the presbytery of the present and later Ely Cathedral. The left hand window shows Alan de Walsingham who was sacristan of Ely Cathedral when the central tower collapsed in 1322. ‘He had a moment of supreme creative vision’ to erect the incredible Octagon which was completed in stone by 1328 and the wooden lantern by 1339. Note the panel under the window to commemorate the re-building of our tower. The small window in the South wall of the Nave beside the pulpit is to the memory of the wife of Lt. Col. Cole-Adams. She was enrolling member of the Mothers Union, did much work in the village and was a long-standing member of the Parochial Church Council. Her husband was also a long-standing member of the congregation, PCC member as well as being our Treasurer and Architect for many years. The white stone scroll on the South wall of the Nave is of the family of a long-standing churchwarden. The windows in the North Aisle convey the Victorian approach to memorial windows. The Bullock window shows the Annunciation, the Holland one Jesus’ instruction to John

11 about his mother. The Ward window indicates the regard shown by the children and grandchildren, ‘Caritas’ – dearest or loved one. It is worth looking for the three bees in the Annunciation window, to the bottom right hand side in a triangle, they are the trademark of the worker in stained glass. There are several stone slabs over vaults of former Rectors and members of their families. Note the one in the Sanctuary to the left of the altar to C R Pritchett showing his links with Charterhouse where he was Reader for 14 years. The stained glass window to the right of the altar is dedicated to the memory of William Delabere Pritchett born in Charterhouse September 22nd 1822. There is a well attended Church of England Aided Primary School across the road, which is closely linked not only with the church but also the village as a whole. It has a strong Parent Teacher Association, which provides many of the teaching aids for the pupils. Some years ago the PTA built, with very little professional help, an outdoor learners swimming pool used every summer until the costs meant that it could no longer be maintained. More recently it has raised a large amount of money to provide outside classrooms and staging. In 2007/8 the school had to raise a great deal to take down a demountable classroom, replace this with new classrooms and extend the hall and build a new kitchen. In 1986 when the Vicar of Great Hallingbury retired the parishes of Great and Little Hallingbury became a United Benefice. We still have our own Parochial Church Councils and Churchwardens but we support and encourage each other and we have a united choir. We use a variety of services from the Book of Common Prayer, Common Worship as well as having Family Services. We are ecumenically minded and support many charities at home and abroad, having a CMS link with Uganda. We hope you have enjoyed your visit to our church, now over 900 years old, and will take away with you a sense of the past and its many links with the lively present.

12 Rectors of Little Hallingbury Date Name Patron Years 1336 Peter Maloysel … …. Dame Margaret Neville …. …. John Baudewyn Decd. …. Neville …. 1434 John Fray …. …. Anne, Countess of Stafford …. …. William Pakenham Resd 1461 Henry Bouchier, Earl of Essex …. 1461 William Wells Decd 1472 do 11 1472 Robert Faunderoy Resd 1474 do 2 1474 Thomas Hykkys Decd 1479 do 5 1479 William Holderness …. …. do …. …. Robert Neville Decd 1514 do …. 1514 John Bourgster Decd 1588 Henry, Earl of Essex 44 1558 Nicolas Collyer Decd 1572 H Averston 14 1572 Richard Aston Resd …. Walter Devereux, Earl of Essex …. …. Martin Price Resd 1610 do …. 1610 John Fish Decd 1669 Thomas Sutton 59 1669 John Sherwell Decd 1719 Governors of Charterhouse 41 1710 Thomas Davies …. …. do …. 1739 John Emerson Decd 1766 do 36 1766 William Salisbury …. …. do …. 1796 William Bird Decd 1810 do 14 1810 Matthew Raine Decd 1811 do 1 1811 John Stewart Decd 1835 do 24 1835 C R Pritchett Decd 1849 do 14 1849 Stanley Pemberton Decd 1880 do 31 1880 John Julius Baker Decd 1915 do 35 1916 A A Jackson Resd 1926 do 10 1927 F R Pemberton Resd 1939 do 12 1939 B T Verry Decd 1946 do 7 1946 H B Reiss Resd 1950 do 4 1950 Rudolf E E Walker Resd 1956 do 6 1956 A C Houlder Resd 1960 do 4 1961 S John Berry Resd 1969 do 8 1969 A W David Ritson Resd 1983 do 14 1984 Dennis Staveley Resd 1991 do and Bishop of Chelmsford 7 1992 Terry G Low Resd 2001 do 9 2001 Margaret Chapman Resd 2009 do 8 2009 Janice Anne Green Resd 2018 do 8 2018 David Herrick Resd 2022 do 4