SOUTH WEALD: Church view still the same

A MEANDER through the village of South Weald is a real step back in time.

This view of St Peter's Church, South Weald, taken before the First World War, could just as easily have been snapped yesterday as yesteryear, so little has changed.

The church, large for such a small village, was originally the mother church for the area, including Brentwood, until the middle of the 19th century.

Built in 1150, any historian would delight in the church's beautifully carved doorway, a tribute to its Norman builders. The building replaced an earlier church which was mentioned in the Domesday Book.

The tower, built of Kentish ragstone, dates from 1505 but much of the church was almost completely rebuilt in Victorian times after the original structure had decayed beyond redemption.

John Fryer, principle curator at Brentwood Museum who supplied the Gazette with this photo, said: "Fortunately, the Victorians kept the original features where possible.

"These included many monuments and some engraved slabs which were laid as a footpath leading to the south porch. They are all there for us to see today."

The village boasts a wealth of historic buildings, from the early 18th century Tower Arms building opposite St Peter's, to the almshouses with chapel, built in 1854, with two added in the 1960s.

It was not just the inspiring views and historic buildings that drew the crowds to South Weald during Victorian and Edwardian times. Londoners looking for fresh air and healthy exercise also came in droves.

John said: "George Tasker, writing in his book of rambles in 1911, describes South Weald as a Mecca for hundreds of cyclists in the summer months and to this day it retains many delights that attracted them."