A Victorian Antiquarian’s Scrapbook

As a member of the Library Committee of the Essex Society for Archaeology and History I have taken on a task, with others, of sorting the contents of an office at, what could be described as, the headquarters of the organisation which was formed as long ago as 1852 and formerly called the Essex Archaeological Society.

The organisation has an interesting history of its own. In years gone by its members were elected. These ladies and gentlemen were amateurs and professionals with a particular interest in archaeology and the county’s history. Little has changed regarding the membership but now anyone can join.

The passing of time means that over the many years the Society has not only published thousands of pages of historic interest through its own ‘Transactions’ but accumulated many publications left by former members, probably upon their demise. The office contains a treasure trove of material which has quietly languished there, some in need of viewing by a wider audience, some which needs to be retained and another larger proportion which needs to be sold or disposed. All have gathered dust!

One ‘discovery’ was a scrapbook compiled by an unknown Victorian member of the Society. It contains some reports of Society Meetings (today called ‘Excursions’), text on some church refurbishments and rebuilds, and, principally, cuttings from books (Suckling, Buckler) and the compiler’s own sketches of Essex churches.

The Essex churches are of particular interest. In my local area there are sketches of High Ongar (Fig 1) and Bobbingworth (Fig 2) churches before “Victorianisation”. I was aware that Bobbingworth once had a timber bell tower but the sketch confirms that it had, like High Ongar, at least a timber belfry. These structures were considerable out of vogue in mid Victorian Essex. Alfred Suckling (1845) refers to Blackmore’s magnificent three-tier bell tower as being an “inelegant spire”.

St Germain, Bobbingworth was rebuilt in 1841. St Mary’s High Ongar was largely rebuilt in 1858 but still possesses the fine Norman doorway below the Victorian tower.

In the High Country area, the antiquarian made sketches of three churches: Greensted (Fig 3), Stanford Rivers (Fig 4) and Stapleford Tawney (Fig 5). These are all easily recognisable.

The passing of about 150 years has discoloured the drawings: the paste used to stick the pictures into the scrapbook having aged. However, this is the first time I have seen drawings of two local churches prior to restoration and, given the quality and proportionality of the other sketches I have reason to believe that these are faithful reproductions – and that these might be the only surviving representations.