Parish Church of St Christopher Willingale Doe is a Grade II* listed building in the Epping Forest local planning authority area, England. First listed on 20 February 1967. A Medieval Church.
Parish Church of St Christopher Willingale Doe
- WRENN ID
- outer-balcony-dale
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- Epping Forest
- Constituency
- Brentwood and Ongar MP: Alex Burghart (Con)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 20 February 1967
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Parish Church of St Christopher Willingale Doe, Village Street
- OS grid reference
- TL 596 073
- Coordinates
- 51.74231, 0.31065
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The parish church of St Christopher in Willingale Doe consists of a nave and chancel dating to the late 14th century, a tower and porch from the mid-15th century, and a north aisle that was added and substantially restored in the 19th century. The building is constructed of flint rubble with fragments of free stone and Roman bricks, with limestone and clunch dressings. The nave and chancel roofs are gabled and covered in peg tiles. The chancel features a 19th-century east window, but retains a 15th-century rear arch and label. The north and south walls each contain two restored late 14th-century windows. A late 14th-century doorway on the south wall has been largely reconstructed. A late 14th-century chancel arch has two hollow-chamfered orders and moulded capitals. The nave includes a 19th-century north arcade. The south wall has three late 14th-century style windows, each of two lights, and the original late 14th-century south doorway, featuring moulded jambs, a two-centred arch, and a 19th-century label. The west tower comprises three stages and has an embattled parapet. The bell chamber has two-light 19th-century windows on its west, south, and north faces. The tower arch has two orders – the inner order is hollow chamfered and continuous, while the outer order is moulded and interrupted by moulded capitals and bases on each respond. The nave roof has crownposts with straight bracing, which are now encased. The chancel has a moulded wallplate dating from the 14th or 15th century. The south porch is a 19th-century rebuilding of a timber and brick structure incorporating a simple old crownpost tiebeam and arch braces, now featuring turned baluster-like mullions. A 15th-century stone font is octagonal, with each face bearing quatrefoils inscribed within circles and blank shields. A monument in the chancel is dedicated to Robert Wiseman (1641), Richard Wiseman (1618), and Mary, his wife (1635). This monument is elaborate, made of alabaster and marble, and features three Corinthian columns standing on lion head corbels, supporting entablatures and coffered semi-circular vaults. It includes a reclining effigy of a man in plate armour, and smaller kneeling figures of a man and wife in civil costume. Further monuments include one to Johannes Salter (1744) in the chancel and Winifred Barrington of marble with cupids in the nave. The church is included for its architectural, historic landscape, and group value. The Wiseman family, who are commemorated by the monument, owned Torrells Hall.
Local climate
Parish Church of St Christopher Willingale Doe sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 670 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 99% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 96% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 32 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 58% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
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- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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