"Ingatestone and The Great Essex Road - with Fryerning"

On the 'Feast of Epiphany, 1913' E E Wilde sat down and wrote the Preface to her book on the history of the parish where she lived: 'Ingatestone and The Great Essex Road - with Fryerning'.  

" ... When first I came to this country place it seemed to me there was little if any history connected with it, but it was not long before I changed my mind.  First, the countless Roman bricks built into Fryerning Church walls met my eye Sunday after Sunday; then, wandering into Ingatestone Church, Sir William Petre's monument spoke loudly of Tudor days; and next, more slowly but perhaps more insistently, was borne upon me the part that our road had played in English history; and always there remained the old Fryerning font, with its astronomical problem.  Partly for my own amusement, partly for that of a dear old friend who stayed with me at the time, I began to piece together various historic facts that had touched our village, some of which I used for a paper read at our small Historical Society at Blackmore, and intended writing a short sketch of the parish, as I found many people were interested in my idea."

This 488-page book, now celebrating its centenary, is a very interesting and recommended read.  An outline and pictures from the book will appear on this blog during 2013.