Greenstead Church
A SAXON CHURCH WITH WOODEN WALLS
=How to get there.=–Train from Liverpool Street or Fenchurch Street.
Great Eastern Railway.
=Nearest Station.=–Chipping Ongar (1 mile from Greenstead Church).
=Distance from London.=–22-3/4 miles.
=Average Time.=–Varies between 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
1st 2nd 3rd
=Fares.=–Single 3s. 11d. 2s. 10d. 1s. 11-1/2d.
Return 5s. 9d. 4s. 2d. 3s. 1d.
=Accommodation Obtainable.=–Inn, etc., at Ongar.
Entering Ongar from the railway station one finds on the right a
footpath leading into a fine avenue. About ten minutes’ walk down this
brings one to Greenstead Hall, a red brick Jacobean house, with the
church adjoining it. Set among a profusion of foliage, the simple little
building would be quite interesting as an ideally situated little rustic
church, but when one realises how unique it is, the spot at once becomes
fascinating. The walls of the diminutive nave, as one may see from the
illustration given here, consist of the trunks of large oak trees split
down the centre and roughly sharpened at each end. They are raised from
the ground by a low foundation of brick, and inside the spaces between
the trees are covered with fillets of wood. On top the trees are
fastened into a frame of rough timber by wooden pins. The interior of
the building is exceedingly dark, for there are no windows in the wooden
walls, and the chief light comes from the porch and a dormer window.
This window in the roof, however, was not in the original design, for
the rude structure was only designed as a temporary resting-place for
the body of St. Edmund the Martyr. It was in A.D. 1010 that the saint’s
body was removed from Bury to London, its protectors fearing an
incursion of the Danes at that time. Three years afterwards, however,
the body was brought back to Bury, and on its journey rested for a time
at Greenstead–a wooden chapel being erected in its honour. The remains
of this chapel, built nearly half a century before the Conquest, are
still to be seen in the wooden walls just referred to. The length of the
original structure was 29 feet 9 inches long by 14 feet wide. The walls,
5 feet 6 inches high, supported the rough timber roof, which possessed
no windows. The chancel and tower were added afterwards.
Ongar Castle, a huge artificial mound surrounded by a moat, is close to
the main street. The church contains in the chancel, hidden by a carpet,
the grave of Oliver Cromwell’s daughter. A house in the High Street is
associated with Livingstone.
[Illustration: GREENSTEAD CHURCH, ESSEX.
Built in 1013, is remarkable for its nave, constructed of solid tree
trunks.]
Continue...
Preface •
Ham House and Petersham •
Walton-On-Thames (scold’s Bridle) •
Harrow •
Holwood House, Keston •
Chigwell, Essex •
Waltham Abbey and Cross •
Downe •
Epsom: Its Races and Its Salts •
Epping Forest •
Hampton Court •
Rye House, Broxbourne •
Hatfield House, Herts •
Runnymead, the Signing of Magna Charta •
The Oldest Brass in England •
St. Albans •
Stoke Poges Church, Bucks •
Windsor •
Jordans and William Penn •
Knole House and Sevenoaks •
Greenstead Church •
Chalfont St. Giles •
Westerham •
Guildford, Surrey •
Gad’s Hill •
Ightham Mote, Kent •
Penshurst •
St. Michael’s Mount and Marazion •
Rochester Cathedral •
Tunbridge Wells •
The Quintain Post At Offham and Malling Abbey •
Eversley •
Farnham, Surrey •
Hindhead, Surrey •
Shottermill •
Penn’s Chapel At Thakeham, Sussex •
Chawton the Home of Jane Austen •
Selborne •
Elstow •
Lewes, Sussex •
Bodiam Castle, Sussex •
Colchester, Essex •
Layer Marney •
Battle Abbey •
Cambridge •
Arundel Castle •
Olney, Bucks •
Wantage and the Country of Alfred the Great •
Canterbury and Its Cathedral •
Reculvers •
Oxford •
Midhurst •
Pevensey Castle •
Savernake Forest •
Ely Cathedral •
St. Ives, Huntingdonshire •
Winchelsea and Rye •
Blenheim Palace •
Peterborough Cathedral and Crowland •
Peterborough •
Southampton •
Helmingham Hall •
Stonehenge, Wiltshire •
Netley Abbey •
Salisbury and Its Cathedral •
Sandwich, Kent •
New Forest, Hampshire •
Osborne House •
Carisbrooke Castle •
Lutterworth •
Compton Wynyates •
Kenilworth Castle •
Belvoir Castle •
Bath •
Boston and the Pilgrim Fathers •
Warwick •
Gloucester and Its Cathedral •
Norfolk Broads •
Norwich Cathedral •
Lichfield •
Sherborne and Its Abbey Church •
Newark •
Wells and Its Cathedral •
Stratford-On-Avon •
Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk •
Lulworth Cove, Dorsetshire •
Corfe Castle •
Lincoln and Its Cathedral •
Somerset, the Birthplace of Tennyson •
Glastonbury Abbey •
Walsingham, Norfolk •
Cheddar Caves, Cheddar, Somerset •
Newstead Abbey •
The Wessex of Thomas Hardy’s Romances •
Tintern Abbey •
Chesterfield, Derbyshire •
Dukeries •
Haddon Hall, Derbyshire •
The Isle of Athelney, and Sedgemoor •
Raglan Castle •
Dovedale •
Wellington and the Wrekin, Shropshire •
Wroxeter and the Roman City of Uriconium, Salop •
Buildwas Abbey, Shropshire •
Ludlow and Its Castle •
Shrewsbury •
Buxton and the Peak District •
Tewkesbury •
Exeter and Its Cathedral •
Market Drayton, Salop •
Chester •
Exmoor •
Knutsford •
Torr Steps On the Barle, Somerset •
Cleeve Abbey, Somerset •
Hawarden •
York Minster •
Coxwold, Yorkshire •
Llangollen and Valle Crucis Abbey •
Knaresborough, Dripping Well •
Fountains Abbey •
Ripon Cathedral •
Dartmoor •
Haworth •
Rievaulx Abbey •
Brixham, Devon •
Conway Castle •
The Doone Valley, Exmoor •
Llandovery, South Wales •
Dartmouth, Devon •
Richmond, Yorkshire •
Tintagel •
Whitby •
Carnarvon Castle •
Plymouth •
Durham and Its Cathedral •
Raby Castle, Durham •
Snowdon •
Harlech Castle •
Grasmere and Rydal Mount •
The Lake District •
St. Davids Cathedral •
Furness Abbey, Lancashire •
Monkwearmouth, Near Jarrow •
The Isle of Man •
Brantwood •
Fowey •
Hexham and Hadrian’s Wall •
The Lake District •
Keswick •
Alnwick Castle •
Lanercost Priory, Cumberland •
Lanercost Priory and Stepping-Stones.] •
St. Ives, Cornwall •
Bamborough Castle, Northumberland
![[Buy at Amazon]](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0006ADKOC.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg)