Chasing Churches in Essex

We had a great day yesterday tracking down some unusual churches in South Essex.  When out for a drive I take 3 books: a guide to Essex churches, Pevsner's historic buildings guide and The Good Pub Guide guarantees a good trip out!

We only had a couple of hours light after post-Christmas inertia but managed six churches- none of which were open. Shame- at least one would have been a bonus, but it's not surprising as the churches are near to major routes and several have suffered theft and vandalism already.

The route (by car):

1 Horndon on the Hill.  Grade I St Peter and St Paul. Near the well known pub the Bell (I've been, good food, expensive!) Attractive wee church in interesting village setting (nice market building) Reminds me of a Kentish church:  weatherboarded spire and all. It looked like the churchyard would have some pretty flowers coming in Spring.

Nice dormer windows

 2) We then travelled on to Bulphan- in the centre of the village the Grade I St Mary's: 15th-19th century.  Some nice details here- a well-kept looking church. Bulphan's notables include Jim Davidson, the "comedian".

I think Tesco's were channelling this tower when designing some of their "architectural" designs.



Good barge boards!

Lovin' the moss

 



3) Then on to Little Warley. Grade I St Peters- 15th century. Another very attractive, pretty typically lovely parish church.

Inside is a 17th century figure of Father Time, which I think we could just glimpse through the keyhole- can you?

The winter light makes the brickwork glow

Blocked door

Massive buttresses here.

And an exhortation to be nice to the churchyard and its inhabitants

 

4) Next on to Great Warley church- an unusual one this, and what a shame we couldn't get inside. Built in 1902, and apsidal (curved) ended. Render a bit meh. The grounds also feel early 20th century, formal, standard roses etc. Interesting.





The interior is apparently stunning- art nouveau, all silver and bronze. Pevsner described it as having "an orgy of the English Arts and Crafts variety of the International Art Nouveau"

The sun was sinking beyond the graveyard as we moved on to....

 

5)  East Horndon. Wow. Have seen it many a time on the way to Southend, just North of the A127, isolated on top of a hill. All Saints- 15th century Grade II* Well worth finding your way to. Little parking nearby, go to Halfway House pub where you can get a key- it's managed by the rather fabulous Churches Conservation Trust.  We didn't get a key as we didn't find our about it til we were at the church, and the sun was fast sinking. In summer Saturdays the church is kept open.

It's an all red-brick church and looks more like a semi fortified minor manor house than a church.  Peeping through the windows, it looks well interesting inside too, galleries and a whitewashed interior.

The churchyard is worth an explore too, the scrub is being cleared away but at the moment still quite enigmatic. The moon was high as we looked around. Good, high, views towards London.

There are legends attached to this church of dragons and Anne Boleyn's heart.....

My Essex church book says "only the determined romantic will beat a path to this church's door". Do you think this pair of scanty pants found on the beaten path is evidence of said romantic?  *shivers with horror*

 

6)  The last church was Childerditch. Funny little church, dating from 1869 just off the A127 again. Close to East Horndon, the church of All Saints and St Faiths is unlisted. All these churches are in rural locations and this and the last one in particular, are isolated. It is positioned on a hillock on the site of a previous building, and charming- perhaps enhanced by the near darkness of a crisp winter's night as we approached up a tiny lane only used by night- anglers.

 

Christmas decorations on the bench

 

 

It really was dark when we left. A good afternoon's visit to six truly lovely Essex churches!

Key Archaeological Sites of Britain- a new archaeology course for January 2014

Oh I'm so excited to be planning my course starting in January! It's good to have "thinking time" where I can soak my brain in thoughts of all the lovely sites we have in our Isles.  The hardest thing is to narrow down some of the best archaeological sites we have.

After trying to avoid it for reasons of obviousness I have decided it is better to be straightforward and chronological- so I will cover sites starting at the Palaeolithic onwards, but I'll also try to theme each week.  And have activities where I can. And a couple of site visits.....  And the aim will be to look at the "biggy" sites: Happisburgh, Boxgrove, Stonehenge, Maiden Castle, Hadrian's Wall, Sutton Hoo,  Medieval London etc with some accompanying sites or site types: Bronze Age art, Hillforts hillforts hillforts (I like them!), Roman villas, more quietly domestic sites and evidence, industrial sites, sites with evidence of hidden cultures or people, sites of conflict.......   Hmm what else?  Things will crop up as we go along- and I have asked students and prospective students to contact me with what they would like to see- so please do!  Email me, leave a comment, but do contact me. And if you aren't sure whether to sign up- do it!! I'll do my very best to ensure you enjoy the course and get the most out of it.

New Course! How shall I pick the sites covered?

I'm really excited about my new course starting in January- it's called Key Archaeological Sites of Britain and it's being held at the City Lit near Holborn London on Mondays 10.15- 12.15 starting on 12th Jan.

So now I'm thinking about, and writing about, some of the most important sites of the British Isles and thinking - what makes a site "key"? Significant in terms of major social change? Ones which illustrate big themes like settling down, farming, warfare, death and burial, ritual? The ones which we can look at to try to see how ordinary people lived? Firsts- like earliest burial site found, earliest urban settlements, first signs of the industrial revolution etc?  Just designated sites:  and the more designated the better?

I suspect I'll be picking a number of sites simply because they have loads of stunning looking evidence and are still visible and accessible for visits; but I really want to try to delve into lesser known sites that nevertheless reveal knowledge that we can't gain from elsewhere. 

At the moment (and for a while) I've been fired up about "navvy camps" temporary (but were potentially used for a decade or so) settlements that arose around major infrastructure projects like new railways and reservoirs. The remains tend to be somewhat ephemeral but are still to be seen around the country- and my own house in Walthamstow was built on the site of one which was, by what I've heard, miserable, damp, and impoverished.

I've just visited the beautiful area around the Ribblehead viaduct, on the Settle to Carlisle railway. Hundreds are known to have died during its construction: men, women and children who worked at the site, and lived in local camps.  Now people travel from far away to photograph the viaduct and enjoy a ride on this  picturesque part of the line,  and many may not know of the cost to life, or indeed think about the interaction of these transient workers with the local villagers and economies.  I want to examine these less glamorous sites on my course too: I wonder what other ones I can include?

The little church at Chapel le Dale has 200 burials of men, women and children who died during the construction of the Settle to Carlisle railway. There is also a memorial to the railway workers inside the church.

If you are interested drop me a line!  jillhummerstone@googlemail.com or to sign up for the course contact City Lit on 020 7492 2652.

Welcome to Hummerstone Heritage

 

Welcome to Hummerstone Heritage!

 

 

Image by simonwakefield CC-BY-2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

 

 

 

Archaeology is for everyone and I love running courses on archaeology that stimulate discussion and debate and where we get to talk about real sites and see real finds. Some of my courses are held at the City Lit, in London near Holborn Station, and I tailor courses elsewhere to meet the needs of your local society or museum.

 

Particularly popular is my Taste of Archaeology day which is a fun introduction to what

archaeologists do and how they do it- and where we get to work with real archaeological finds! I've received excellent feedback on this course: comments include excellent well presented  hands on activities were a brilliant way of making us think  excellent info and background of what professional actually do  clearly taught  tutor has a wonderfully clear voice  interactive  the balance of the course was very well thought out..no-one would feel intimidated by the class/individual/ group work an insightful exploration of what archaeology really is and isn't!  

 

I have worked for number of years as a field archaeologist and for over a decade worked for English Heritage. I have a BA in Archaeology and a recently awarded MA in Managing Archaeological Sites from the Institute of Archaeology, UCL, where I am a Research Associate in the Centre for Applied Archaeology.  I am also qualified in teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector.  Recently I have been working on a Conservation Management Plan for a World War II airfield, and on archaeological desk based assessments, in and around London.

 

My interests are as diverse as prehistoric sites of the UK, to the archaeology of contemporary (modern day) sites.  I love visiting sites of all types in my spare time.

 

If I can help you please contact me  jillhummerstone@googlemail.com

 

On this blog I'll post up my courses and anything else I think you might find interesting. Keep in touch!