Returning to the Reformation period we will pause to regard the site on which the Memorial Chapel now stands. The church itself, of which one or two illustrations are in existence, was unfortunately pulled down in 1847, when the new one was built. The first recorded church is mentioned in the second half of the 12th century, temp. Hen. II., and it seems as though some remains of that building were to be found in that which existed in 1846, if we may trust the illustration which shews two round-headed doorways on the north aisle. That it was added to in the 16th century, we know, from the will of George Stonard (proved in 1558), for he expresses a desire to be buried near his late wife ‘in the new chapel within the Church of Loughton.’ He it was who gave the large sum of £40—equivalent to some £300 nowadays—for a new frame for the hanging up of the bells: the nature of the frame can be judged by anyone who examines that in Chigwell Church. The brasses to the memory of George’s father, and his two wives, are still in the Memorial Chapel: and it is not improbable that yet another brass commemorates George himself, his wife and children, some of whom predeceased their parents. The stones belonging to the brasses are still _in situ_ in the old churchyard. Mr. David Powell, writing in 1790, says that there was nothing remarkable about the church. Archdeacon Hamilton, who became rector in 1804, and undertook a restoration in 1820, took out one of the stone windows in the chancel and replaced it by another with a framework of iron—which seems to give the measure of his artistic and antiquarian aptitudes. As time went on and the population increased, the old church came to be regarded as too small, and inconveniently distant from the bulk of the population, and a movement was initiated which resulted in the erection of the existing parish church of St. John Baptist, with the church-house adjacent. The old church, picturesque as it was and in good repair, was condemned to destruction, a part being left standing, or rebuilt, to serve as a mortuary chapel. Part of the materials of the old church were used in building the church-house, and the rest was sold by auction. Later on, in 1876, the mortuary chapel was replaced by the new Memorial Chapel of St. Nicholas, familiar to you all. LOUGHTON HALL.