118 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
drove back to Audley End station, passing through the grounds of Lofts
Hall en route, and left for London by reserved carriage on the 9.27 express,
which was stopped by special arrangement to pick them up.
VISIT TO STAPLEFORD TAWNEY AND THEYDON
MOUNT THE 409th MEETING.
Saturday, 20TH July 1912.
The main object of the Meeting was to visit, by kind invitation, our
member, the Rev. Lewis N. Prance, M.A., F.S.A., at Stapleford Tawney,
and incidentally to inspect several places of interest in the district.
Situated many miles from any railway station, both Stapleford Tawney
and Stapleford Mount are the most charming of rural parishes and amply
repay the trouble which is necessary to reach them. They stand on very
high land overlooking extensive stretches of valley and woodlands, and
also contain many features of internal interest. The visitors were con-
veyed in brakes from Theydon Bois and Brentwood stations to the church
of St. Mary, Stapleford Tawney. The Rev. L. N. Prance, who is the
rector of both parishes, met the visitors at the church, the interesting
features of which were explained by him, and by Mr. Sworder, of Epping,
and Mr. Percy Thompson, one of the hon. Secretaries of the Club.
Outside the south porch there stands a coped stone coffin of unusual
design, which is one of the finest examples of its kind in Essex. It was
discovered during the restoration of the Church in 1861 buried beneath
the floor of the nave. It is in a perfect state of preservation. It has been
described and figured by Mr. Miller Christy in the Trans. Essex Archaeo-
logical Society, vol. VII., pp. 371 and 392. A second mutilated stone-
coffin, without a lid, was discovered at the same time, and now stands
outside the north wall of the church. The perfect coffin probably owes
its good preservation to the fact that it has only recently been brought
out into the open air, and the suggestion was made that some form of pro-
tection from the weather should be given to this ancient relic.
The visitors were entertained to lunch at Tawney Rectory, by the
kindness of Mr. Prance, and spent a considerable time in investigating
his well-stocked garden, Mr. Prance being an ardent horticulturist. Then
a walk across the fields was taken to Theydon Mount and the charming
little Church of St, Michael was visited, under the rector's guidance. It
is dated from 1611, and is built in picturesque Jacobaean brickwork ;
the quaint south porch is of moulded red-brick. The unusual shaped
openings which admit light to the Tower stair should be noticed. In-
ternally some large and elaborate Monuments to the Smijth family are
noteworthy, and the Font, an old Italian lavabo of coloured marbles and
white alabaster, is unique. Some curious garlands of flowers or paper,
with several pairs of gloves or mittens, suspended from the roof of
the nave, have attracted much attention in the past, and were described
in the report of a Club Meeting at the Church on 28th May 1892 (Essex
Naturalist, vol. VI., p. 105), and further notes were printed in the same
volume on pp. 99 and 117. They were probably funeral garlands used at
the burials of maids, and they are alluded to by many old writers and
in ballads.