TThe church is large for such a small village and stands proudly on the top of the hill at South Weald, two miles from Brentwood in Essex in England. The Saxons settled here and the place is mentioned in the Domesday Book.
St. Peter's is the mother church of the neighbourhood and until the middle of the 19th century, Brentwood, with its chapel, came under the jurisdiction of South Weald. The present church dates from about 1150, although the south door with its chevron ornamentation is the sole remaining Norman feature. The present memorial chapel at the end of the south aisle was originally Weald Hall Chapel. Within it are commemorated former holders of the manor of South Weald. Sir Anthony Browne, the founder of Brentwood school, Erasmus Smith and the Tower family are all represented. The latter were the local squires from 1752 onward.
The East window
The East Window was erected by subscription in 1886 in memory of the Revd Charles Belli. The centre light represents the Crucifixion. On either side are the figures of the Virgin Mary and St John.
The two outside lights contain St Peter and St Paul. The tracery is filled with angels and shields symbolic of our Lord's passion - the nails, the hyssop, the scourge, the crown of thorns, the seamless robe, the dice and the spear.
The alabaster reredos was added in 1885 and depicts the entombment of our Lord. Nicodemus, Mary Magdalene and Joseph of Arimathaea are shown. It is clearly a later addition as it covers up part of the Ten Commandments which were put up at the time of the restoration.
The South Doorway
This fine doorway has happily survived, despite the various restorations of the church and in particular, that of 1868. It is perhaps the greatest architectural feature of the building.
It dates from the Norman building of 1150 and is a typical semi-circular arch of the period. A segmental arch at the bottom supports a tympanum with axe worked ornamentation and above are two arches, the lower plain and the upper with a chevron decoration
NOW FOR THE CACHE
At the side of the Church is a bench dedicated to Victoria
A.A.BCAD - E.BD.BCFG
The cache is located at N 51.EG.ABF E000 B(A+B).FGE
This cache has been placed with the kind permission of the rangers at South Weald Country Park.
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro@gmail.com.
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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