Springfield Park Baptist Church is set back
from the north-west corner of Springfield Park Road and Chelmer Road.
Houses here were built outwards from the town into the nineteenth century,
and some houses on nearby Springfield Road have dates built into
their walls. The Allied Estate, comprising Springfield Park Road and
Parade, was built prior to the Second World War. It was a private
development that went bust, with the council taking over the estate
entirely.
Holy Trinity Church, Pleshey, lies on the southern
side of Pump Lane, immediately west of the village. The first place of worship
here was a chapel, built along with the castle, in its inner precincts, about
1180. It seems to have been large and splendidly furnished. By 1558 it was very
decayed, and may have been demolished soon after. The second church at Pleshey,
St Mary's Church, was built between 1180-1400, to the north-west of the
castle, in the lower bailey.
Apart from the small Chapel of St Nicholas,
this too was demolished, about 1394. At the same time, the third
church was built in the college's grounds. Much of the old building
was re-used. In 1460, a new north chapel was added, dedicated to the
Holy Trinity. In the mid-1500s the chancel was pulled down and the
church remained ruinous until a small brick church was built over
the nave in 1708. In 1725 the chapel was repaired. In 1868 the
church was almost entirely rebuilt.
The Church of All Saints, East Hanningfield,
sits behind dense tree cover on the eastern side of The Tye, almost
opposite the turning to the school and Post Office. The original All
Saints Church was near East Hanningfield Hall in Old Church Road, a
little to the west. It was built in the seventh century by the East
Saxon chief who lived where the hall stands today, when he was converted
to Christianity. The church survived for approximately twelve
hundred years.
Sadly this church was burnt down by a fire that is
thought to have started in a heating stove, in 1883. The heat of the
fire was so great that the bells melted and fell as a shower of molten
metal in the west end of the church. The present site was selected for
the new church, being more central to the village. It was built in
1884-1885 in Early English style with some chequer work, a timber belfry
and a broach spire. Henry Stone was the architect and William Wood the
builder.
Bethel Church sits in a small, house-sized plot
on the northern side of Old Church Road, close to the junction with Back
Lane, and not especially far from the site of the old East Hanningfield
parish church. The church has an Evangelical membership and was probably
founded as recently as the 1990s. It has a resident lay pastor who with his
wife takes the services and meetings and organises both a youth club and a
mother and toddler club.
Two photos on this page contributed by Hannah
Fry.
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