Returning to the Reformation period we will pause to regard the site on
which the Memorial Chapel now stands. The church itself, of which one or
two illustrations are in existence, was unfortunately pulled down in
1847, when the new one was built. The first recorded church is mentioned
in the second half of the 12th century, temp. Hen. II., and it seems as
though some remains of that building were to be found in that which
existed in 1846, if we may trust the illustration which shews two
round-headed doorways on the north aisle. That it was added to in the
16th century, we know, from the will of George Stonard (proved in 1558),
for he expresses a desire to be buried near his late wife ‘in the new
chapel within the Church of Loughton.’ He it was who gave the large sum
of £40—equivalent to some £300 nowadays—for a new frame for the hanging
up of the bells: the nature of the frame can be judged by anyone who
examines that in Chigwell Church. The brasses to the memory of George’s
father, and his two wives, are still in the Memorial Chapel: and it is
not improbable that yet another brass commemorates George himself, his
wife and children, some of whom predeceased their parents. The stones
belonging to the brasses are still _in situ_ in the old churchyard. Mr.
David Powell, writing in 1790, says that there was nothing remarkable
about the church. Archdeacon Hamilton, who became rector in 1804, and
undertook a restoration in 1820, took out one of the stone windows in the
chancel and replaced it by another with a framework of iron—which seems
to give the measure of his artistic and antiquarian aptitudes. As time
went on and the population increased, the old church came to be regarded
as too small, and inconveniently distant from the bulk of the population,
and a movement was initiated which resulted in the erection of the
existing parish church of St. John Baptist, with the church-house
adjacent. The old church, picturesque as it was and in good repair, was
condemned to destruction, a part being left standing, or rebuilt, to
serve as a mortuary chapel. Part of the materials of the old church were
used in building the church-house, and the rest was sold by auction.
Later on, in 1876, the mortuary chapel was replaced by the new Memorial
Chapel of St. Nicholas, familiar to you all.