Church Of All Saints

Church of All Saints, Theydon Garnon

A parish church of 13th, 15th and 16th-century date, with later additions and alterations. The building is constructed of flint rubble with a plastered east wall. The west tower, dating to around 1520, is of red brick; the north aisle and north porch are from around 1644, also red brick. A 19th-century north vestry and organ chamber were added later. The roofs are covered in red plain tiles with ornate pierced ridged tiles.

The chancel probably dates from the 13th century. Its east wall contains an early 15th-century window of four cinquefoil lights with vertical tracery above, set in a two-centre head with moulded jambs and labels, and a small cusped trefoil light above. Brick buttresses support the corners and north and south walls. The north wall has a 17th-century window of two pointed lights with moulding and label, with a 20th-century doorway to its west. The south wall contains a 13th-century lancet and a similar window, with a 15th-century doorway between them featuring a four-centred arch in a square head with quatrefoiled spandrels. The chancel roof is of seven cants, boarded and ribbed with bosses.

The nave contains two dormer windows and a timber arcade of five bays with octagonal oak columns and semi-octagonal responds, featuring stop-chamfered bases and moulded capitals, dating to around 1644. The arches are roughly three-centred or semi-circular with a moulded fascia above, mitered in the centre to form a key block. The south wall has two 15th-century windows of three lights in segmental pointed heads with moulded labels and shield stops bearing the arms of Garnon (three piles wavy), along with a 20th-century two-light window. A 15th-century doorway with moulded jamb and two-centred arch stands between them, set under a square moulded label with traceried spandrels. The nave roof is 13th-century, consisting of eleven scissor-braced couples at the west end; the eastern bays were renewed around 1300-1350 with five crossquadrate four-arm crown posts and collar purlins fitted. The roof features moulded wall plates, wall recesses with arched braces, and plain tie beams.

The north aisle, built around 1644, is of red brick with a moulded plinth and corbel table under the eaves with small brackets. The east gable contains a sunk panel inscribed with the date 1644, and the west gable has a similar panel inscribed "I.H." beneath which is a 20th-century lancet window with moulded label. The north wall has three 20th-century three-light windows under flat heads with moulded labels. A doorway of around 1644 stands between the two western windows, featuring a 20th-century semi-circular head and a moulded arch frame with fleur-de-lis stops. The north porch, also dating to around 1644 and of red brick with red tiling, was restored in the 18th century and has 20th-century windows to each wall.

The west tower, built around 1520, is of red brick and three stages, crenellated with angled buttresses. The tower arch has plain chamfered responds and a four-centred arch of four chamfered orders. An 18th-century west doorway is set above a 17th-century stone window of three lights with two pointed heads under a moulded segmental label, with a segmental reveal arch above. The bell chamber contains brick two-light openings under four-centred heads. The north and south walls at the second stage have four-centred headed windows. A four-angled stair tower at the north-east corner rises above the crenellations with moulded coping; it features brick treads and newel with a small light to each stage. On the tower's south wall is a stone panel inscribed with a bequest made by Sir John Crosby, a knight and late alderman and grocer of London, who gave £50 towards the making of the steeple in 1520. The inscription records his wife Dame Anne, with prayers for their souls, and displays two shields: the Crosby arms (a chevron ermine between three rams) and the Grocers Company. The inscription is now much worn. On the south-east buttress are a scratch dial and a larger sundial.

The church contains notable fittings and monuments. Above the south door are four bequest boards recording ancient charities. Six hatchments are displayed. The 18th-century pulpit has an attached readers desk and finely detailed hexagonal sounding board with twisted balusters to the stairs. An altar tomb in the north wall of the chancel has a brass of a kneeling man, his wife, two sons and three daughters, with indents of two inscription plates, two shields, a Trinity and another group. Another similar tomb in the south chancel wall has indents for brasses. A memorial tablet to Lady Anne Fitzwilliam, dated 1602, records her endowment of an almshouse for four poor widows, each to receive 12 pence per week. Memorials record Sir John Archer (1682) and William Eyre Archer (1739). A brass commemorates William Kynlneby, Rector of Theydon Garnon from 1442 to 1458. Communion rails, dated 1683-1684, were set up at a cost of £4. A 16th-century wooden altar table and 17th-century carved chairs remain in the church. An oak chest, crossed with nailed iron bands and with claw feet, dates to around 1668. A 19th-century tub font stands on a stem. An oak door, adapted as a bookcase near the tower arch, comes from the medieval priests house which stood in the churchyard west of the tower until 1924. Above it is a stone memorial to Denton Nicholas, M.D., dated 1714.