CHURCH
There was a church at Theydon Bois in the 12th
century and perhaps earlier. (fn. 39) The
advowson was originally held by the lord
of the capital manor. William de Bosco
granted the church to the priory of St. Bartholomew,
Smithfield. This was confirmed by Henry II in 1187 (fn. 40)
and in 1248 Hugh de Bosco quitclaimed the advowson
to the prior. (fn. 41) The priory retained the advowson until
its dissolution in 1539. It presented rectors until 1335
when the rectory was appropriated to the priory. (fn. 42)
No vicarage was instituted and the church was thenceforth a curacy or donative. In 1540 the rectory and
advowson were granted by the Crown for life to Robert
Fuller, who had been the last Abbot of Waltham, and
who was also granted the manor of Theydon Bois. (fn. 43)
He died in the same year (fn. 44) and the rectory and advowson reverted to the Crown, which granted them in
1544 to Edward Elrington, the last lessee of the rectory
under the priory. (fn. 45) He died in 1559. (fn. 46) His son and
heir Edward Elrington died in 1578 and was succeeded
by a son of the same name. (fn. 47) It was the third Edward
Elrington who in 1616 acquired the manor of Theydon
Bois, and the manor, rectory, and advowson subsequently descended together.
The rectory of Theydon Bois was valued in about
1254 at £4 13s. 4d., (fn. 48) at £5 in 1257, (fn. 49) and at £4 13s. 4d.
again in 1291. (fn. 50) Before 1306 it was customary for the
priory to receive 2 marks a year from the glebe lands,
but a rental of that year stated that those lands had long
been uncultivated and it was therefore agreed between
the priory and the then rector that only 1 mark should
be paid until the land had been brought into cultivation. This rent was received by the cellarer of the
priory. In the same document the church was said to
be taxed at £5 6s. 8d. and to be worth £10. (fn. 51) In 1526
the priory leased the rectory to Juliana Fenrother at an
annual rent of £4, and in the following year she was
granted leave to cut down and retain all wood on the
property, except great trees, and provided that she did
not damage the young springs, for the payment of £2.
As security against damage she had to deposit £4. (fn. 52)
She died in 1536, leaving the lease of the rectory to
Edward Elderton alias Elrington, grandson of her late
husband. (fn. 53) In 1538 it was leased to Elrington by the
priory, still at an annual rent of £4. (fn. 54)
The tithes of Theydon Bois were commuted in 1850
for £463 19s., of which £193 15s. was payable to the
owners of Theydon Bois manor (the Hall Dares),
£103 15s. to Henry Elwes, owner of Theydon Hall,
and £166 9s. to the curate. (fn. 55) The tithes payable to
Elwes were those arising from his own estate. At the
time of the commutation the curate had glebe amounting to 8 acres.
The curate's income was very small. In 1604 it was
estimated at only £13 6s. 8d. (fn. 56) In 1650 the cure was
said to be destitute, there being not more than £20 a
year assigned for a minister, so that 'no godly able
minister will accept of it'. (fn. 57) The tithe commutation
figures show, however, that by 1848 there had been an
endowment of the curacy with some tithes and a small
amount of glebe. (fn. 58) The living was also augmented
out of Queen Anne's Bounty and in 1870 the incumbent, the Revd. George Hambleton, set out to raise
£300 by private subscription to increase the stipend
and so qualify for further assistance. (fn. 59) Under the
Incumbents Act (1868) the curacy became a titular
vicarage. (fn. 60)
It seems from Chapman and Andre's map of 1777
that the present Parsonage Farm was then the residence
of the curate. (fn. 61) In estate maps of 1799 and about
1800, however, it was called Theydon Manor Farm
and was occupied by a tenant of John H. Dare. (fn. 62) It
is a timber-framed house probably dating from the
15th century. In its original form it was a wellrecognized type of late medieval 'hall' house of which
Bridge Farm, Theydon Garnon (q.v.), is another
example. In 1920 its medieval origin was confirmed
by the architect in charge of restoration work, who
reported the existence of an open hearth on the floor
of the hall. (fn. 63) This hall, in the centre of the main block,
was originally open to the roof while the side wings
were of two stories. All three sections were combined
under a single roof, gabled at the ends. At the front of
the house the side wings oversailed at first-floor level
but the wall of the hall was vertical. Large curved
braces, one of which can still be seen, helped to support
the deeply overhanging eaves of the central section and
originally stood clear of the wall. In the 16th or early
17th century the hall was divided into two stories and
the upper part of the front wall was built out to incorporate the curved braces. A slight break in the moulded
bressummers which cover the joist ends makes it clear that
the central overhanging section is a later insertion. The
large brick chimney would be contemporary with the
division of the hall, but the two bay windows at the
front of the house are modern. One of the projecting
wings at the back was open to the roof within living
memory and may have formed part of the medieval
house. There have been further additions to the house
in recent times and the timber-framing has been exposed both inside and out. Internally there is a doorway with moulded jambs and a four-centred head and a
window with square mullions set diagonally. Parts of
the entrance door also appear to be ancient.
In 1832 the Dares as lord and lady of Theydon
Bois manor and patrons successfully applied to the
Treasury for 5 acres of the manorial waste in the forest
as the site of a house, with glebe, for the incumbent of
Theydon Bois. (fn. 64) Failure to build within the stipulated
period of one year vacated the grant, but a fresh grant
was made in 1838 to trustees on the application of
Elizabeth Dare, now a widow. (fn. 65) The house was duly
built in 1839 at the south end of Piercing Hill opposite
the entrance to the churchyard. It is a square house of
gault brick with the date inscribed on a stone near the
front door.
John Strype (1643-1737), ecclesiastical historian
and biographer, was curate of Theydon Bois in
1669-70. (fn. 66)
In 1349 St. Bartholomew's Priory acquired from
Edmund de Grymesby, king's clerk, 30 acres of land
and 3 acres of wood in Theydon Bois, with certain
lands in Middlesex, to find a chaplain to celebrate in
the conventual church every year on Edmund's anniversary for his soul, and to feed five poor persons on the
same day for ever. (fn. 67) The lands in Theydon were held
of Waltham Abbey and were worth only 2½ d. an acre
because they were sterile and rocky. The woodland
was worth only 3d. an acre because it was devastated. (fn. 68)
In 1359 the priory further acquired from Master
Richard de Shamelesford a messuage, a toft, and 91
acres of land, a lane called Pakeswey, and 2s. 6d. rent
in Theydon Bois and Theydon Garnon, in satisfaction
of £6 out of £20 a year of land and rent which it had
royal licence to acquire. (fn. 69) These lands, lying partly
within the forest, were worth only 27s. a year. (fn. 70)
The old parish church of ST. MARY, which may
earlier have been dedicated to ST. BOTOLPH, (fn. 71)
stood next to Theydon Hall, about ¾ mile north of
Abridge Bridge. An engraving of 1814 shows a view
of the church from the south. (fn. 72) It was a small building with nave, chancel, south porch, and wooden bellturret at the west end of the nave. In the chancel was
a single-light window and door. In the nave were two
single-light windows and two blocked openings. The
building may well have been of the 12th century,
though the drawing is too crude to prove it. (fn. 73) In
about 1770 there was said to be neither monument
nor inscription in the church, (fn. 74) and in 1819 'neither
monument nor inscription of note', (fn. 75) but two monuments from the old church are in fact preserved in the
present building.
In 1843 the parish vestry resolved to build a new
church in a more central situation, and a faculty was
accordingly obtained. The old church was pulled
down, the materials being sold for £78 and the barrel
organ for £20. (fn. 76) The site is now marked only by a
few tombstones overgrown with grass and young trees.
The new church was erected at Theydon Green at
a total cost of £2,231. Among the subscribers was
Queen Adelaide, who gave £20. (fn. 77) The curate, George
Hambleton, published a poem of 418 lines 'to seek
agreeably to delineate to those who have kindly helped
forward the cause of Theydon Bois new church, the
extreme desirableness of this erection'. A further £120
then (1843) remained to be raised. To the poem was
prefixed a view and plan of the new building, by
Abbott and Habersham, architects, St. Neots. The
church consisted of chancel, nave and west tower.
The accommodation was for 360 and the value of the
contract £1,458. (fn. 78) The church was consecrated in
1844, but owing to faulty construction it had to be
taken down in 1850 and the present church was then
built in its place.
The present church of St. Mary, the third to bear
this dedication and the second on the present site, was
designed by Sydney Smirke and consecrated in 1851. (fn. 79)
The cost was about £2,000; the curate paid half this
amount and the other half was provided by the architects of the previous church. (fn. 80) The church consists of
a nave, chancel, north vestry, and large western tower
with spire. The belfry stage of the tower and the tall
spire are octagonal. The building is of red brick with
stone dressings. Internal repairs were carried out in
1887, 1901, and 1906. The spire was covered with
copper in 1920. (fn. 81)
There are three bells, two of which came from the
medieval church. The first was recast in 1843 by
Thomas Mears. The second was cast about 1460 by
John Danyell and is inscribed Sancta Margareta Ora
Pro Nobis. The third, dated 1567, was probably by
Robert Dodds. There were three bells in the church
in 1552. The bell frame is dated 1727. (fn. 82) Owing to
its condition the bells have not been rung for about
100 years, but are only chimed. (fn. 83)
No plate survives from the earliest church. The
oldest existing piece is a paten of 1804, given in 1844
by Sir Edward Bowyer-Smijth. (fn. 84)
The pulpit, which is of walnut, was given in 1900
as a memorial to the Revd. C. E. Campbell, formerly
vicar. It was designed by Paul Waterhouse. (fn. 85) New
oak benches for the choir and other furnishings have
been installed within the past five years.
The royal coat-of-arms of James I hangs over the
west door. (fn. 86) There are six other hatchments, four of
the Wild family of Theydon Hall and two of the Dares.
There is also a monument to the Dare family, dated
1810, and below the chancel is their vault, containing
thirteen coffins, at least seven of which must have been
brought from the medieval church. (fn. 87) On the south side
of the nave is a wall monument to Samuel Wild (1817)
and his wife Elizabeth (1844). Below this a marble
tablet and a painted inscription set out Elizabeth Wild's
charitable bequests. Among the later monuments is
one to George Hambleton (1874), vicar for 34 years.
The stained glass in the east window was also given in
his memory. Another stained window is a recent
memorial to the Buxton family, patrons of the vicarage,
and there is also one to Frances Mary Buss, who is
buried in the churchyard.
For several years about 1885 occasional services and
Sunday schools were held in a mission hut at Ivy
Chimneys. In 1895 a second-hand 'iron room' was
bought for £84 and erected on a site in Theydon Road
at the branch road to Great Gregories and opposite
Delaford Cottage. The total cost with fittings was
about £165. A bell and turret and two rooms at the
rear were added later. (fn. 88) In 1913 the iron room was
moved to a new site on the south side of Ivy Chimneys
Road about 100 yds. east of the junction with Theydon
Road. At present (1954) there is a flourishing Sunday
school here, and evensong is held every Sunday. The
building is not consecrated. (fn. 89)