Royal Coat of Arms in St Mary’s Church, Theydon Bois

Inside the Victorian replaced St Mary’s Church, Theydon Bois is a “Royal Coat of Arms – James I. Painted”, per the latest edition of The Buildings of England. Essex by James Bettley and Nikolaus Pevsner (Yale University Press, 2007).

It is, as Anne Padfield writes in her article on ‘Hatchments’ (at Theydon Mount) only one of four James I Arms in England.

Pevsner in the 1954 first edition, dismissively wrote about the church:

“St Mary. By Sidney Smirke, 1850. A small rather ugly brick church, with an unconventional SW tower with spire. The roof goes low down on the S side and has dormer windows. Pulpit. Nice piece in the C18 style with back panels and small canopy. By Paul Waterhouse.”