Thorley

130. THORLEY.

(O.S. 6 in. xxiii. S.W.)

Ecclesiastical

(1). Parish Church of St. James, stands about 1½ miles from Bishop's Stortford. It is probably built of flint rubble with clunch dressings, but is heavily plastered and cemented. The Chancel and Nave are of early 13th-century date, but the S. doorway of the nave is 12th-century work, re-set. The chancel arch was re-built about the middle of the 14th century, and the West Tower was added at the beginning of the 15th century. The North Vestry and South Porch were added in the 19th century, and the whole church was restored and much defaced with cement.

Architectural Description—The Chancel (31 ft. by 20½ ft.) has a modern E. window. In the N. wall are a 13th-century lancet window, a modern window (possibly a restoration), and a 13th-century doorway, much restored. In the S. wall are also a 13th-century lancet and two windows, with modern tracery, possibly in old openings. The chancel arch is of two chamfered orders, with half octagonal responds and moulded capitals. The Nave (43 ft. by 23½ ft.) has, at the E. end of the N. wall, the rood-loft stairs, with both doors remaining. The N. and S. walls each have two windows of two lights, almost completely modern, but possibly in 15th-century openings, with a 13th-century lancet window between them. The 12th-century S. doorway has been re-set and much restored; it has a semi-circular, cheveron-moulded head and twisted shafts with scalloped capitals. The West Tower (12½ ft. by 11 ft.) is of three stages, with embattled parapet and a small slated needle-spire. It is not buttressed; the S.E. stair-turret has a small entrance door inside the tower, with shafted jambs, foliated capitals, etc., of unusual detail. The tower arch is of three moulded orders, with pilastered jambs and moulded capitals. The W. doorway has a two-centred inner, and a square outer order, with blind spandrel tracery; the tracery of the window above it is modern. The bell-chamber windows, of two lights, are probably original, but much restored with cement.

Fittings—Bells: three; 1st and 2nd, 1682; 3rd, 1628. Brass: in the nave, to John Duke, 1606; inscription only. Font: square bowl, ornamented with round-headed sunk panels, 12th-century, on modern stem. Piscinæ: in chancel, cinque-foiled, late 14th-century: in the nave, on S.E., trefoiled recess, much restored, possibly for piscina. Plate: includes cup and cover paten of 1562. Sedilia: S. wall of chancel, triple, with cinque-foiled heads and spandrel tracery, late 14th-century. Stoup: near the W. doorway, small niche.

Condition—Fairly good, but much defaced with cement.

Secular

(2). Thorley Hall, a farm-house E. of the church, with a Moat. The house is of c. 1435, and is built of plastered timber; the roof is tiled. Part of the building has been destroyed, but it appears to have consisted originally of a central block, facing E. and W., and containing the hall, a solar wing on the S. and a kitchen wing on the N., thus forming either an H, or a modified E plan. The kitchen wing and the N. end of the hall have been destroyed, and the plan is now L-shaped. A large chimney stack was inserted at the S. end of the hall, c. 1600. In the 18th century the S. front was faced with brick, and the whole building much altered, and in the 19th century additions were made on the N. and N.E. The roof of the hall is ridged from end to end, and half-hipped on the N. The solar wing is gabled, and the upper storey projects on the W. side. The other elevations have been much altered, and the windows are of the 18th and 19th centuries. A floor has been inserted in the hall, and in the room above it are the remains of one of the original queen-post trusses of the roof, which is ceiled with plaster on the rafters and straining-beam. The tie-beam has been cut away between the queen-posts, and both tie-beam and straining-beam are chamfered, and have curved angle-braces. The queen-posts rest on moulded octagonal bases of unusual profile, and the purlins have struts. The dining-room, at the W. end of the solar wing, is lined with early 17th-century panelling, and has remains of a plain fluted frieze.

Only a fragment of the moat remains.

Condition—Of house, good; much altered.

(3). House, now divided into cottages, ¼ mile N.E. of the church, was built late in the 16th or early in the 17th century. It is a gabled building of two storeys; the roof is tiled. An original chimney stack remains; the window frames, etc., are modern, and the interior has been remodelled.

Condition—Fairly good.

(4). Stocks and Whipping-Post, in the churchyard on the N. side, are surrounded by an iron railing. Only the lower board of the stocks with four holes in it, remains; the whipping-post has two semi-circular grooves on two sides, covered by the original iron clasps.

Condition—Much repaired.