ALL SAINTS. It is odd that the S porch windows should be late C13, with bar tracery. Do they come from a porch preceding the present one? The W tower is ashlar-faced and Perp, with set-back buttresses, a W doorway with traceried spandrels, bell-openings in pairs of two lights each, a quatrefoil frieze over, and no spire. Embattled S and N aisle and clerestory, all Perp. But the S doorway seems to be of c.1300 (continuous mouldings) and the chancel of about the same date, though over-restored. Windows with Y-tracery and two low-side windows, that on the S a prolongation below a transom of one light of a two-light window. Early C14 N and S arcades of four bays, tall piers, standard elements. The nave roof has figures on the wall-posts and angels against the intermediate principals, the N and S aisle roofs only the former. - FONT. A big, ambitious Perp piece. Panelled stem, bowl with alternating patterns.- PLATE. Cup and Cover Paten of 1674-5; Paten on foot of 1837-8. - MONUMENTS. In the S aisle two large, uncouth standing monuments, both no more than an inscription tablet in big letters with strapwork around or on top. Mawde Bedell d. 1587, dated 1597, and Sir John Bedell d. 1613.
HAMERTON. Once seen, can it be forgotten? It has had for centuries more than its share of white cottages and thatched roofs, and all about them is a loveliness which makes this a place of sheer delight. It has a wooden bridge over Alconbury Brook, set on 17th century stones. It has Manor Farm enshrined in trees, its Elizabethan walls and windows captivating under grand old chimneys.
The church, built by the monks of Colchester, has much that has been here 500 years. Its roofs have been made new, but they have in them much of the 15th century craftsman’s work. The wallposts in the nave have ten Apostles carved in oak resting on stone corbels with angels and grotesques; they have been holding up the roof 500 years. Above them are angels with trumpets, harps, and cymbals. Above the pulpit is the old roodloft, reached by a flight of stone steps within the wall, deeply worn by constant use in the few years of its existence between the end of the 15th century and the Reformation. The massive and splendidly carved reredos, with communion table and rails to match, are in memory of a rector for nearly 50 years, Daniel George Thomas. In the aisles are carvings of men with strange beasts, and there are extraordinary creatures on stone brackets. The traceried font, a man and wife keeping watch from the chancel arch (known as the hooded lady and the little imp), and seven old benches, are all from medieval England. In one of the aisles are traces of paintings 400 years old.
The peal of five old bells, after having been silent for nearly a quarter of a century, has been rehung in our time.
The church, built by the monks of Colchester, has much that has been here 500 years. Its roofs have been made new, but they have in them much of the 15th century craftsman’s work. The wallposts in the nave have ten Apostles carved in oak resting on stone corbels with angels and grotesques; they have been holding up the roof 500 years. Above them are angels with trumpets, harps, and cymbals. Above the pulpit is the old roodloft, reached by a flight of stone steps within the wall, deeply worn by constant use in the few years of its existence between the end of the 15th century and the Reformation. The massive and splendidly carved reredos, with communion table and rails to match, are in memory of a rector for nearly 50 years, Daniel George Thomas. In the aisles are carvings of men with strange beasts, and there are extraordinary creatures on stone brackets. The traceried font, a man and wife keeping watch from the chancel arch (known as the hooded lady and the little imp), and seven old benches, are all from medieval England. In one of the aisles are traces of paintings 400 years old.
The peal of five old bells, after having been silent for nearly a quarter of a century, has been rehung in our time.
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