Church of St Mary, Shenfield

I called at the parish church of St Mary the Virgin in the Essex village of Shenfield earlier this month. It was a longer walk from the railway station than I had expected, and the later afternoon was rather warm. I was pleased to note that its tower had a peculiar, whitewashed cladding, the age of which I could not then detect, but it made me think the insides would be suitably cool, which they were.

The porch with its wooden beams and strange tower all date to a few years before 1500, as does the north aisle. Instead of adding stone pillars, which might have been more expensive and more typical, the builders constructed supporting columns of wood, each hewn from a single oak. These rather delightful supports remind one of actual trees towering above human heads, still strong and stable. They might have been felled 500 years ago and commandeered for divine service, but this has lent them a longevity and dignity they would not have otherwise enjoyed.

The second curiosity is the alabaster carving of Elizabeth Robinson and her baby. Draped in a shroud with a skull in one hand and a baby in the other, it is said that she died in childbirth in the 1640s, and that this tragedy united, or albeit briefly, her husband’s and father’s families who were on opposing sides in the civil war. Parliamentarian and Royalist, the loss of a loved one brought enemies together in grief.

Peter describes the Lord Jesus has hanging upon a tree, a poetic and scriptural allusion to the wooden cross upon which He offered His life. Truly, the Tree of Calvary unites all who come to God grieving for, and repenting of, their sin, while preventing the wrath of God from falling down upon their heads. Not only did St Mary’s cool me that hot afternoon, it inspired me, and reminded me of the gospel, for the spreading of which it was constructed.