146 THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
Arrived at All Saints' Church, once the parish church for the whole
of Epping, and locally known as Epping Old Church, the vicar was found to
be unfortunately prevented from welcoming the visitors personally, but
a very efficient deputy, in the person of Miss Marter, received the party
and directed attention to the various points of interest. The church was so
drastically altered in the last century, under the guise of "restoration,"
that its architectural history has been almost entirely destroyed, but the
building is believed to go back to the early 13th century: how completely
its earlier appearance has been altered was well seen from two old framed
prints in the vestry, which show what the church was like at the beginning
of the 19th century; only the brick West Tower, of late 16th century
date, remains unaltered to-day. This, indeed, with its Perpendicular
window and the finely proportioned arch opening to the barrel-roofed
nave, is the only part of the present building presenting any architectural
interest. Several of the earlier oak pews, with ornamental ends and
"poppyheads," remain.
In the Tower some tablets to the memory of various members of the
Conyers family, former possessors of Copped Hall, are on the wall, and the
fine brass to Thomas Palmer, 1621, a full-length effigy in academic robes
now on the S. wall of the Chancel, is of interest.
The quaint offertory-box, inscribed "Remember the poore do Epping
"An° Dmi 1626," was curiously examined: a further inscription on the
bottom of the box records that it was restored in 1826; and a replica of
it was made in 1913. Both these boxes are still in regular use.
In the churchyard is a series of headstones of late 17th and early
18th century dates, commemorating members of the Stace family, which
exhibit the gruesome skull and crossbone ornamentation characteristic
of the period. A no less gruesome epitaph, on the grave of Sarah Haslam,
who died in 1805, reads :
"Tho greedy Worms devour my Skin/
"And gnaw my wasting Flesh/
"But God will build my Bones again/
"And clothe them all afresh."/
A modern headstone of interest to our Club is that to James Lake
English naturalist, of Epping, who died January 12th, 1888, at the age
of 67., and lies buried here with his first wife Esther. English was a keen
working botanist, a member of the Club in its early days, and our Museum
possesses a collection of mosses made by him in Epping Forest, some of
which are no longer to be found there.
Miss Marter very kindly invited the party to view her garden, which
adjoins the church: an ornamental water stocked with fish, and a fine
Ceanothus bush in full flower, commanded special attention.
In thanking Miss Marter, the hon. secretary reminded the party that
she was daughter of a man who had helped to make English history,
General Marter having had the distinction of effecting the capture of the
celebrated Zulu chieftain, Cetewayo, during the Zulu War of the '70's
of the last century.
At Takeleys farm the party, by permission, invaded a Dutch barn
for the purpose of taking lunch; picturesquely, though precariously,
perched on a mountainous mass of shifting straw, the visitors no doubt