Epping Upland / Epinga / Epping

The Victoria County History (Essex, vol. 5, 1966) notes: "The ancient parish church of All Saints, Epping, now the church of Epping Upland, is first mentioned in 1177 [...] It was much restored in 1878 and few ancient features survive [among which] a small early-14thcentury font bowl." The Parish website [http://www.eppinguplandchurch.org.uk/index.php?/histoty-of-the-church.html] [accessed 23 June 2010] informs: "There are two fonts in the church, one of which is very large and stands at the west end of the nave. It has a large Jacobean cover with a balancing mechanism enabling it to be easily lifted and replaced. The smaller of the two is of early 14th century date, with no cover, and is at the east end of the nave near the pulpit. It is the one currently used for baptisms." The 14th-century basin is square at the top, with a protruding flat moulding at the upper rim, hemispherical below; it has lost its original base, and is now raised on a modern metal tripod structure. The second font, is octagonal all over, with blank shields in the basin panels, and trefoiled arches or windows on the stem sides; the wooden cover [cf. supra] is octagonal, with crocketed arrises; both font and cover appear modern, probably 19th-century. The VCH (ibid.) further adds: "The church of St. John the Baptist, Epping, originated in the 14th century or earlier as a free chapel belonging to Waltham Abbey [...] The dedication to St. John was mentioned in 1403 [...] From 1545 onwards the chapel appears to have been regarded as a chapel-of-ease to All Saints [...] Until the 19th century the administration of the sacraments in the chapel was restricted in deference to the rights of the parish church. In 1784, when a Bill (which never became law) was drafted for the purpose of making the chapel into a donative, it was noted that it had long been customary to baptize such children as the inhabitants found convenient to bring there [...] Entries of baptisms were copied into the parish register at intervals until 1839 [...] The chapel (now church) [...] was enlarged in 1622, restored in 1784, and rebuilt in 1832 and 1889." [NB: we have no information on the font from this church, or on the original 12th-century font from All Saints']