IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Rectory Lane, LOUGHTON, IG10 3RU

Loughton Hall is an imposing Grade II listed building in Queen Anne style. Amongst its owners was Mary Tudor before she became queen of England in 1553. It has played host to many Royals including Queen Elizabeth in 1561 and 1578, as well as King James 1 in 1605. Loughton Hall was replaced by the present building by Reverend J. W. Maitland who re-built it in 1878. The Maitland family held the manor for much of the 19th century. Loughton Hall has undergone an extensive renovation programme, and has been very sympathetically restored to its formal glory. It is now open to provide care for people with dementia related illnesses.

The original church of St Nicholas stood near to this location, next to Loughton Hall. When the hall was destroyed in 1836 and the centre of population was growing elsewhere in the parish it was decided to build the new parish church of St John's in a location where it could better suit the needs of its congregation, with the old church being demolished. In the event the current Church of St Nicholas, the building in the photograph, was constructed in 1877 as a private chapel to the rebuilt Loughton Hall. It was designed by William Eden Nesfield. It was refurbished as a public place or worship, as a chapel of ease to St John's, in 1947. Despite its comparative modernity it is a Grade II Listed Building and the English Heritage website describes it thus: "Anglican church, 1877. Coursed rubble with stone dressings, roofed with handmade red clay tiles. Chancel and nave in one rectangular plan aligned approximately NE-SW, with timber porch to NW and vestry with lean-to roof to SE. In NE wall one 2-centred window with 3 trefoiled lights and quatrefoils over, diagonal buttresses, and foundation stone inscribed AM 1877. In NW wall, N doorway with 2-centred arch, one 2-centred window with 2 trefoiled lights and quatrefoil over. In SE wall one similar smaller window NE of vestry. In SW wall one 2-centred window with 4 trefoiled lights and 2-centred tracery over, 3 buttresses, and bellcote. The C18 boundary wall of Loughton Hall abuts each side of the SW end, aligned with it, showing that the church was sited at this orientation to adjust to the existing wall, with the SW end of the church inside the private grounds. An inscription at the NE end states that the church was erected by Anne Maitland." The wall in the photograph is the NE wall described above.

Ordnance Survey cut mark benchmark described on the Bench Mark Database at http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2920018