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St Martin, Little Waltham

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Here we are in the pleasant villages to the west of Chelmsford, and this beautifully set church appears at first quite odd, the western half of its late medieval tower rebuilt in a perfunctory manner in red brick at some point, presumably in the 18th Century. Frederic Chancellor came along in the 1870s and added a north aisle and organ chamber as he was often wont to do, and the massing from the north-east is deceptive, for this is I think a small church despite Chancellor's work. Inside is simple, no high drama, pleasantly and quietly furnished. And then you turn to the east for one of Lawrence Lee's very best windows, depicting the Crucifxion taking place in Little Waltham village, the church and Hall behind. The figures of the Blessed Virgin and St John are exquisitely painted, with sobering and imposing skulls at the foot of the cross. Other glass is by Hemming & Co, and there is a striking engraved glass window of 1982, so fashionable at that the period, separating the space below the tower from the nave. It is by Jennifer Conway and depicts a mother and child with a powerfully foregrounded inscription on either side. This is a church of 20th Century quality, and to put the icing on the cake are the splendid reredos figures of 1953 by Joseph Cribb, very much in the style of his former master Eric Gill. Simon Knott, June 2020 Follow these journeys as they happen at Last Of England Twitter.

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