Chigwell, Essex
=How to get there.=–Train from Liverpool Street or Fenchurch Street.
Great Eastern Railway.
=Nearest Station.=–Chigwell.
=Distance from London.=–12-3/4 miles.
=Average Time.=–55 minutes. Quickest train, 31 minutes.
1st 2nd 3rd
=Fares.=–Single 1s. 10d. 1s. 4d. 0s. 11d.
Return 2s. 6d. 1s. 10d. 1s. 4d.
=Accommodation Obtainable.=–"The King’s Head.”
In 1844 Charles Dickens wrote to Forster: “Chigwell, my dear fellow, is
the greatest place in the world. Name your day for going. Such a
delicious old inn facing the church–such a lovely ride–such forest
scenery–such an out-of-the-way rural place–such a sexton! I say again,
Name your day.” This is surely sufficient recommendation for any place;
and when one knows that the “delicious old inn” is still standing, and
that the village is as rural and as pretty as when Dickens wrote over
sixty years ago, one cannot fail to have a keen desire to see the place.
“The King’s Head” illustrated here is the inn Dickens had in his mind
when describing the “Maypole” in Barnaby Rudge, and the whole of the
plot of that work is so wrapped up in Chigwell and its immediate
surroundings that one should not visit the village until one has read
the story. One may see the panelled “great room” upstairs where Mr.
Chester met Mr. Geoffrey Haredale. This room has a fine mantelpiece,
great carved beams, and beautiful leaded windows. On the ground floor is
the cosy bar where the village cronies gathered with Mr. Willett, and
one may also see the low room with the small-paned windows against which
John Willett flattened his nose looking out on the road on the dark
night when the story opens.
Chigwell School, built in 1629, and founded by Archbishop Harsnett,
still remains, although there have been several modern additions. Here
William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, was educated. (See Index for
Jordans and Penn’s Chapel at Thakeham.)
Chigwell Church, facing “The King’s Head,” has a dark avenue of yews
leading from the road to the porch. A brass to the memory of Archbishop
Harsnett may be seen on the floor of the chancel. The epitaph in Latin
was ordered to be so written in the will of the archbishop. Translated,
the first portion may be read: “Here lieth Samuel Harsnett, formerly
vicar of this church. First the unworthy Bishop of Chichester, then the
more unworthy Bishop of Norwich, at last the very unworthy Archbishop of
York.”
[Illustration: THE KING’S HEAD INN AT CHIGWELL.
The “Maypole” of Dickens’s Barnaby Rudge.]
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
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