Few who enter this church by the handsome doorway at the base of the
tower, the armorial ornamentation of which is worthy notice, will fail to
admire the view which is afforded when standing beneath the noble western
arch of the lower wall, by the handsome nave and chancel, lighted by a
clerestory, and closed in by an open timber roof, the latter beautifully
painted. There is a good deal to interest one within the church. There
will be noticed a modern Rood screen across the chancel front, and
originally there existed a very handsome screen of this character, access
to which was gained by a small staircase on the southern side, which was
clumsily demolished at the restoration in 1872. In the chancel pavement
is a brass to Nicholas Dixon, the founder, whilst a Gothic altar tomb of
Purbeck marble occupies a recess in the north wall. The latter is to the
memory of Robert Dacres, of Cheshunt, Privy Councillor to Henry VIII.
Other notable monuments are those of Sir Henry Atkins, physician to James
I. and Charles, Daniel Dodson and Margaret Lady Whatton, whose virtues
are thus recited:
“Fair as an Angel, virtuous as a saint,
Whose beauty and whose grace no art can paint,
Highly belov’d by all and so admir’d,
As much bewail’d when she from hence retir’d,
Her soul so pure from earth to Heaven soar’d,
There to enjoy the God she here enjoy’d,” etc.
Between the nave and chancel on either side is a curious ornamental
opening pierced through the wall. What purpose these served it is hard
to determine. In the tower chamber, which has a beautiful vaulted roof,
is the ancient octagonal font of Purbeck marble, as well as the very old
alms chest or poor man’s box, with three fine hasps and locks, and
strongly bonded with iron. In the churchyard stand a large square tomb,
the burial place of the Cromwell family for several generations.
The Cromwells held Cheshunt Park, which lies a little less than a mile
north of the church, beyond Flamstead End. This pleasant little hamlet
would seem by its name to furnish another link with Saxon times, for
Flamstead in Anglo-Saxon would mean “place of refuge.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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