Sir Thomas Smyth of Theydon Mount

Source: Essex by Marcus Crouch (B.T. Batsford, London, 1969), p. 97.

The Elizabethan age left its mark on Theydon Mount. Here the inspiration came from Sir Thomas Smith, a scholar-politician.²¹⁰ This combination of occupations is an uncommon and an uneasy one and, as readers of Mr. F.G. Emmison’s masterly ‘Tudor Secretary’ will know, Smith was by and large unhappy with his political life, lacking the skill of Mr Emmison’s hero, Petre, in the delicate adjustment of conscience to the changing winds of state. Although he occupied important posts in what we now think of as the Civil Service, including that of principal secretary to the Council, he liked better the life of a retired scholar at Theydon, which had come his way through a prudent marriage. He rebuilt the mansion, Hill Hall, in the very newest classical fashion. It must have been one of the earliest houses in England to reflect the mood of the architectural Renaissance. Smith, a philosopher and humanist, might not have minded as much as some have done the modern translation of Hill Hall as an open prison.

It is the proximity of this necessary evil of our day that keeps Theydon Mount church locked? It is a great pity, not only because it is a rare example of a Jacobean parish church, one moreover showing skill in reconciling Gothic tradition with the classical spirit of the age, but also because it contains the famous monument where Sir Thomas Smith lies, all the shifts and deceits of statecraft forgotten in the grave contemplation of death.

Footnote

²¹⁰ In the parish church history and guide, Anne Padfield informs readers of Jeremy Collingwood’s book, ‘Sir Thomas Smith: Scholar, Statesman and Son of Saffron Walden’ (Saffron Walden Hist. Soc. 2012). See Journal No. 66 by the author: Sir Thomas Smith’s role in the Reformation – High Country History Group and Journal No. 32: Sir Thomas Smith – High Country History Group. Regarding his memorial see Journal No. 98: Ogborne’s History of Theydon Bois and Theydon Mount 1817 – Revisited – High Country History Group.