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All Saints, Norton Mandeville

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I cycled on through Shellow Bowells (I kid you not) and onwards, because the next church I wanted to visit was very remote, and the route to it very convoluted. First, I headed through the pleasant village of Willingale. It was originally split into two parishes, and the two parish churches of Willingale Spain and Willingale Doe share a churchyard. But I had visited these two about 18 months ago, and so I cycled straight past and then through tiny, winding lanes for about three miles without seeing another soul other than another solitary cyclist headed in the opposite direction. Eventually, I came to a turn off which led me slowly downhill for about a mile and a half to a dead end where there is a farm and All Saints, Norton Mandeville. Open. An utterly delightful little Essex church sitting high on a bluff looking to the oilseed rape fields dropping away to the south. The setting is a bit like Strethall to the north, but the church is more typically small Essex, with a wooden bellcote. Several paths meet here, and the church is obviously left open all the time. Very well-kept interior, the star piece being an ornate harmonium. The church is actually in the parish of High Ongar, but to get to there by road would have meant a bike ride of at least three miiles, and almost six miles if I wanted to avoid the busy Chelmsford to Harlow road (which I did). However, a bridle way led south-west of the church which was (just) good enough to cycle, even though I knew I wasn't really supposed to, so I took it and in little over a mile I was at High Ongar. Simon Knott, April 2014 Follow these journeys as they happen at Last Of England Twitter.

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