Barling

5. BARLING. (F.c.)

(O.S. 6 in. ^(a)lxx. S.E. ^(b)lxxi. S.W. ^(c)lxxviii. N.E. ^(d)lxxix. N.W.)

Barling is a small parish about 4 m. N.E. of Southend-on-Sea. The church is the principal monument.

Ecclesiastical

^d(1). Parish Church of All Saints, stands near the middle of the parish. The walls are of ragstone-rubble with some flint in the nave; the dressings are of various limestones, the roofs are tiled and the spire boarded. The S. wall of the Nave is possibly of the 12th century as indicated by its thickness and the rear-arch of the S. doorway. The Chancel was subsequently lengthened and probably early in the 15th century a N. vestry was added; the base of the walls are probably of this date; the West Tower, also, was added early in the 15th century. The Chancel was re-built except the N. wall and the North Aisle with its arcade added c. 1500; a S. porch was perhaps added at the same date. The upper part of the South Porch is of late 16th or 17th-century date. The Vestry was re-built early in the 19th century and the church was restored in 1863–4.

Amongst the fittings the carved alabaster 'tables' from a former reredos are noteworthy.

Architectural Description—The Chancel (30 ft. by 16½ ft.) has an E. window all modern except the 15th-century splays. In the N. wall is a 15th-century doorway with chamfered jambs and two-centred head; further W. is an arch for which see Nave arcade. In the S. wall are two windows and a doorway all modern except the splays of both and the rear-arch of the western window. The side walls have a moulded string-course, at the eaves-level, and carried across the E. wall as a string to the former low-pitched gable. There is no chancel-arch.

The North Vestry has the base of the walls of ragstone-rubble.

The Nave (35¾ ft. by 17¾ ft.) has a N. arcade of c. 1500 and of four bays with two-centred arches of two moulded orders; the octagonal columns have concave faces and moulded capitals and bases; the E. arch is higher than the rest and springs, on the E., from a moulded corbel-capital with concave faces and a boss of foliage at the bottom; the W. respond has an attached half-column. In the S. wall are two windows, the eastern modern and the western of the 14th century and of two cinque-foiled lights with a cusped spandrel in a two-centred head; between the windows is the S. doorway all modern except the plastered semi-circular rear-arch which may be of the 12th century.

The North Aisle and Chapel (12 ft. wide) is entirely of c. 1500 and has in the E. wall a window of three cinque-foiled lights in a segmental-pointed head. In the N. wall are three windows each of two cinque-foiled lights in a segmental-pointed head with a moulded label; between the two eastern windows is the rood-loft staircase, the lower doorway having a four-centred and the upper a rough triangular head; between the two western windows is the N. doorway, now blocked, with moulded jambs, two-centred arch and label with re-used head-stops. In the W. wall is a window uniform with that in the E. wall, but with a moulded label.

The West Tower (10 ft. by 9½ ft.) (Plate, p. 12) is of early 15th-century date and of three stages with an embattled parapet and on the E. face the marks of the former steep-pitched roof of the nave. The two-centred tower-arch is of two hollow-chamfered orders, the inner continuous and the outer dying on to the square responds. The W. doorway has moulded jambs, two-centred arch and label; the W. window is of two cinque-foiled lights with vertical tracery in a two-centred head with a moulded label. The N., S. and W. walls of the second stage have each a single pointed light. The bell-chamber has in each wall a window of two trefoiled lights in a square head with a defaced label. Between the first and second stages on the W. face is a band of flint and stone chequerwork continued round the side walls as a band of flint. On the E. wall are traces of the former high-pitched roof of the nave.

The South Porch is probably of late 16th-century date and is timber-framed and stands on stonerubble walls of earlier date. It has a square-headed outer entrance with a moulded frame and two cambered tie-beams with curved braces.

The Roof of the chancel has two moulded tiebeams of c. 1500 and an old tie-beam at the W. end. The gabled roof of the N. aisle has old moulded tie-beams re-used, the four westernmost tie-beams being moulded and of c. 1500.

Fittings—Bells: two; 1st by John Dier, late 16th-century; 2nd by John Hodson, 1666. Brass Indent: Outside W. doorway— of inscription-plate and probably figure. Chest: In tower —front only, with four panels of conventional foliage, late 16th-century. Coffin-lid: In N. aisle—with incised cusped cross and stepped calvary, late 13th or early 14th-century. Door: In N. doorway—of ridged battens with fillets over joints, c. 1500. Font: octagonal, four sides panelled with blank shields in squares, three with quatrefoils in circles and one blank, moulded under-side and base, buttressed stem, c. 1500. Glass: In N. aisle—loose against E. window, roundel with interlacing pattern and roses, 15th-century. Locker: In chancel—in N. wall, rectangular with chamfered edges, date uncertain. Monuments and Floor-slabs. Monuments: In churchyard—S.E. side, (1) to George Asser, 1674, and Susanna, his wife, 1658, table-tomb of stone, with carved sides and moulded slab, hour-glass and skull at ends; S.W. of tower; (2) to Susanna, wife of William Cripps, 1714, also to William Cripps, 1752, stone table-tomb. Floor-slabs: In chancel— (1) to George Asser, 1683, and —, his wife, 1686, late the wife of Thomas Wright; (2) to Richard Bateman, 1668, with achievement-of-arms. Niches: On W. face of tower—three, two lower with trefoiled and upper with cinque-foiled head, 15th-century. Piscina: In chancel—with trefoiled head and round drain, probably 14th-century re-set. Plate: includes cup of 1562 with two engraved bands, paten of 1566 or 1568 and two pewter plates. Pulpit: hexagonal, with bolection-moulded panelled sides, cornice and lower rail, shaped and moulded standard against wall with carved consoles, sounding-board with panelled soffit and five carved rosettes as pendants, late 17th-century. Reredos: In vestry—from former reredos, two alabaster carvings (Plato, p. 25), both headless, probably of St. Dominic, in monastic habit, and a seated figure, with remains of colour, early 15th-century. Sedile: In chancel— sill of S.E. window carried down to form seat.

Condition—Good.

Secular

^c(2). Homestead Moat, at Mucking Hall, about 1 m. W. of the church.

Monuments (3–9).

The following monuments, unless otherwise described, are of the 17th century, and of two storeys, timber-framed and plastered or weather-boarded; the roofs are tiled. Many of the buildings have original chimney-stacks and exposed ceiling-beams.

Condition—Good, or fairly good.

^d(3). House, two tenements, 100 yards S.W. of the church, has on the W. front remains of ornamental pargeting including a panel with the date 167(8) and a circle surrounded by hearts. The chimney-stack at the S. end has two restored diagonal shafts.

^d(4). House, 500 yards S.S.W. of the church, has modern additions at the back and side.

^d(5). House, 600 yards W. of the church, is modern but incorporates a small portion of a 15th-century building. The original roof is of the central-purlin type with king-posts, struts and cambered tie-beams in the end walls.

^b(6). Roper's Farm, house, about 1,100 yards N.W. of the church, has a modern addition at the back. There are curved brackets to an exposed ceiling-beam on the first floor.

^a(7). Trumpions, house, 300 yards S.W. of (6), was built possibly in the 15th century, with a central Hall and E. and W. cross-wings. The Hall roof has been raised and a first floor inserted. In the E. wall is a blocked two-light window with diamond-shaped mullions.

^a(8). Cottage, 100 yards N.W. of Trumpions, has modern additions at the E. and W. ends.

^c(9). Jail Farm, house and walling, about ¾ m. W.S.W. of the church. The House incorporates a portion of a 15th-century house which originally extended further E. The W. end was altered in the 17th century. The centre part of the building was originally the W. end of the hall and open to the roof but has had a first floor inserted; the E. end is modern. Inside the building is an original roof-truss; the king-post has a plain capital and base and four-way strut.

N. of the house is a length of about 15 ft. of rubble Walling said to have been part of a jail of the Bishops of London.