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St James the Great |
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St James the Great |
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The "Mirror" trademark was registered by Knight Brothers, of London, in August 1905 and the company ceased trading in 1908. The "16/" cards so far identified are all of Bishops Stortford 16/1 Hockerill Church 16/10 Thorley Church 16/11 Twyford Lock (posted 1906) 16/14 The Trout Bridge on the River Stort 16/15 The Parsonage Farm 16/18 Parsonage Mill |
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Thorley Church, Bishops Stortford The British Mirror Series 16/10 |
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Thorley is due East of Much Hadham, by a circuitous route. The village, known as Thorley Street, lies by the main road between Sawbridgeworth and Bishops Stortford, the parish church of St James occupies a sombre position at the end of a cul-de-sac road, but it can also be reached by footpath. Composed of dressed stone and flint rubble cemented over, on the South of the nave is a restored Norman doorway late 12th century, the nook shafts are twisted and the arch consists of two chevron moulded orders; apart from this doorway most of the building is Early English. The stairs to the Rood loft (in North wall) are in good repair and the door at the top is still intact; the font is Norman, of the plain sunk panel type so frequently met with in country churches, and on the outside of the tower by West doorway is the remains of a holy water stoup. |
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Thorley Church Mardon's Series (Bishop's Stortford) image provided by Bill Hardy |
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 Thorley Church Published in the Canon Series by Mitchell & Watkins, London The partnership was formed in 1904 and published many view postcards of London and its suburbs. The card probably dates from about 1906. |
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Thorley Church FF & Co 44877 Francis Frith & Co card photographed in 1899 posted 8 May 1908 image provided by Bill Hardy
Thorley Church by A Maxwell posted 1904 |
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Web Site: St James the Great, Thorley - includes a good history of the church, and data base of memorials, and an excellent series of historical articles about the village "From the Archives" by Bill Hardy.
Web Site: The Friends of St James the Great contains a church guide, parish registers and churchyard memorials
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Before 1850, Thorley's stocks and
whipping-post used to be positioned in an open area known as the
Village Pound. This was to the left of the gateway to Thorley
Hall and immediately in front of the church lychgate. Their
primary purpose was to detain and humiliate petty criminals and
also those who had offended the churchwardens. Parishes were
required to erect stocks by Act of Parliament in 1405 and some
were still in occasional use in the mid 1800s. The addition of a
whipping-post was instituted at the time of Elizabeth I. Amongst
those who qualified for detention, and the subsequent
humiliation, were petty thieves, drunkards, gamblers, wife
beaters, hedge-tearers, strolling players and musicians and
Sabbath-breakers. In the 1850s, the Rector, Frederick Vander Meulen, had them removed from the Pound and placed in the churchyard by the ancient yew tree. In 1904 the church accounts record that they were renovated by Glasscocks & Sons at no expense to the churchwardens! This involved the structure being cleaned, treated with preservatives, a new upper bar provided and the post being spliced. They were then repositioned, behind railings, against the south wall of the churchyard where many present day parishioners remember them being a prominent feature.
In 1979 the rector, Sidney Robinson and Churchwardens entrusted the stocks and whipping-post to the safe keeping of the Bishop's Stortford Local History Society. They are now in on display the Bishop's Stortford Museum. Text from the St James the Great web site - Photograph courtesy Bishop's Stortford Museum See also Early Crime & Punishment |
If you know of other books, websites, etc, relating to this place, please tell me.
| February 2011 | Page created | |
| March 2014 | Information on the Stocks |
