Throcking

131. THROCKING.

(O.S. 6 in. xiii. N.E.)

Ecclesiastical

(1). Parish Church of Holy Trinity, stands in an isolated position on high ground 2 miles N.W. of Buntingford, and is built of flint coated with cement; the dressings are of chalk and oolite; the upper half of the tower is of red brick; the roofs are slated. The earliest part is the lower half of the Tower, which is of the 13th century; the present Chancel and Nave were built early in the 15th century, and the South Porch later in the same century; the upper part of the Tower was re-built in 1660; the church was re-roofed and the vestry added in the 19th century.

Architectural Description—The Chancel (19 ft., to the chancel step, by 18 ft. wide) is the E. part of a plain rectangular plan; the E. window is of three lights with tracery of the 15th century, partly repaired; on the N. side is an original doorway now opening into the vestry, and next to it is a modern stone screen: in the S. wall is a single light with re-used jambs, apparently of the 14th century, and a 15th-century traceried head. The Nave (31 ft. by 18 ft.) has a 15th-century N. window of two lights with tracery, much restored, and a similar S. window; the S. doorway has 15th-century moulded jambs and a four-centred arch with a label. The South Porch has a single light in the E. wall; the entrance archway has moulded jambs, a four-centred arch under a square head, and a label. The West Tower (9 ft. square) is of two stages; the lower stage is built of flint, and has 13th-century N. and S. lancet windows with modern external stonework, and a 15th-century W. window of three lights with restored tracery and mullions. The tower arch has 15th-century shafted jambs and a four-centred head of the same date as the upper stage of the tower. This stage is of red brick with stone quoins, and bears the date 1660 in a panel on the S. side; it has a plain parapet, which retains the stumps only of former pinnacles at the corners; an octagonal stair-turret of cemented brick, corbelled out below in an ogee form, projects at the S.W. corner, and is carried above the parapet; the windows of the bell-chamber are single lights with round heads. The Roofs are modern, but some carved figures of angels, re-used, are probably of the 17th century.

Fittings—Font: of chalk, bowl with panelled sides of different designs, panelled stem, 15th-century. Monument: floor slab to Sir Thomas Soame (who built the upper half of the tower), 1670. Seating: in the nave, almost all 17th-century: in the chancel, one poppy-head on a bench-end, probably early 17th-century, carved with three human figures and a bird. Miscellanea: on the N. wall of the nave, three consecration crosses, painted red.

Condition—Good, but there is a dangerous amount of ivy on the walls.

Secular

Homestead Moats

(2). At Throcking Hall. There are traces of a brick revetment to the island, and also of brick foundations.

Condition—Fairly good.

(3). At the Rectory, fragment.