Modern Britain

St Nicholas' Church lies on the western side of Rectory Lane, just above the Borders Lane junction. The original parish church for Loughton was built here some years before 1177, to serve the adjoining Loughton Hall. It consisted of a nave, chancel, north aisle, south porch and a weather-boarded tower with shingled spire. In 1737, the tower and spire were repaired and general repairs were made in the 1820s. In 1836, the old Loughton Hall was demolished.

The church had already become isolated and was now even more so. In 1846 it was replaced by St John's. St Nicholas was demolished but the chancel remained, to be turned into a mortuary chapel. Within thirty years, it was decided to build another church on the site of the old. In 1877, what was left of the old church was demolished and a replacement St Nicholas was built a few metres to the west, in a similar style to the old, of which some relics can be seen in the grass.

Debden Christian Spiritualist Church meets in this modern building on the southern side of Border's Lane, just east of the Colson Lane junction. The Congregationalists who had been worshipping at Loughton Union Church built their own church here in 1953, although the exact site is uncertain. It opened as Debden Congregational Church (United Reformed from 1972), but closed at an unknown later date, probably the reason the site was available for this hall.

Loughton Chigwell & District Synagogue lies behind these black iron gates on the Northern side of Border's Lane, opposite Deepdene Road and approximately two hundred metres west of the site of the former Congregationalist church. The synagogue was founded before 1955, but perhaps not long before, to judge from the style of the building. The congregation is Ashkenazi Orthodox, and is affiliated to the Federation of Synagogues.

Trinity Church stands at the top of the hill on the western side of Mannock Drive, close to the Thatcher's Close turning. It is a Methodist church building with a joint Anglican/ Methodist congregation, erected to serve the housing estate which forms the eastern edges of Debden, which itself is little more than a suburb on the eastern side of Loughton. A date of construction for the church cannot be ascertained, but something between 1960-1980 would probably be appropriate.

All photos on this page by P L Kessler.