THE ESSEX CHURCHES SITE

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St Mary, Little Hallingbury

Click on the 'play' symbol in the second image to see all my photographs of this church as a slide show, then click on any image in the slideshow to see it large in a new page. Alternatively, if you don't have flash enabled, you can go straight to the set for this church on flickr. On the western fringe of Essex is a group of churches I think of as the Group of Death - they are some of the few churches in the northern half of the county which are kept locked. Hard against the Hertfordshire border, this was the third church of my bike ride in that dismal benefice and an odd-looking thing - what appears to be a small early-medieval church with a half-timbered tower and spirelet and an imposing south aisle. Not unattractive, but very strange. In fact, the church was a victim of that middle-brow architect of the 1870s George Pritchett. His father was the Rector here, and he appears to be have been given free-run to do whatever he liked. There is no reason for this church not to be open, it is set amongst large houses in the middle of the village. In 99% of English villages like this, the church would be open. One curiosity - I have noticed the prevalence of wooden 'bedstead' grave markers in this area, and there is a big one to the east of the church which turned out to be made of stone - or, at least, cement. Very odd. As I got closer I discovered that it was the last resting place of none other than George Pritchett himself. Simon Knott, May 2014

 

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home - index - latest - e-mail
links - small print - about this site
Norfolk churches - Suffolk churches
www.simonknott.co.uk