St Johns church was built in 1837 on the site of a hop garden at a cost of £2,500. It was built as a sister church to the Cathedral, then the parish church. It was enlarged in 1851 and the tower added in 1883/4. Henry Guy was responsible for a lot of the church erection and there is a plaque dedicated to him in the church. The Veley family are also remembered by the church for all their contributions; they were a family called De Velay who fled from Switzerland fearing for their lives, anglicised their name and settled nearby. The church houses an especially large organ built by Abbott and Smith. Lady Mildmay gave the churchyard. The graveyard no longer takes burials but there is a family tomb here which has a tale to tell……
Sir John Tyrell, of Boreham House (See our cache GC1HTXZ No hitches here), was awakened at three o’clock in the morning on Tuesday 19th February 1856 to be told one of his gamekeepers had been shot.
The gamekeepers were plagued with poachers at this time. On Monday 18th February, keepers Hales and Wisbey and his son crept into the woods calculating just where the poachers would be. The plan: Hales would circle behind them and make enough noise to drive them into the Wisbeys. Within two or three minutes they heard Hales call and rushed into the direction of the voice. As they arrived they heard Hales cry “Oh Dear”, he was three feet from the muzzle thrust towards him and a split second afterwards came the flash and bang of a gun. Hales was killed instantly, leaving a wife and eight children.
The poachers were chased and one caught, he was brought to the big house for an interview in the presence of Sir John at 3 a.m. The prisoner James Thorogood, under hostile questioning broke down and named his partners in crime. The police were informed at 3.30 a.m. and had caught the men by 11 a.m.
That same Tuesday afternoon the suspects were taken before Major Skinner at the Shire Hall in Chelmsford. The word had spread like wildfire and the court was crowded. The prisoners were remanded to the county gaol to appear again the following Friday at noon. Further investigation took place and on the 22nd February the five defendants were taken up the stairs of the Shire hall. Such was the public interest that there was a queue all up the stairs. When the doors were opened to the public there was such a rush that the passageway was blocked, the queue was pushing and shoving on the stairs. The police tried to clear the stairs; they shouted over the hub-hub that they were in danger of collapsing. Within a few moments this is what happened. The third flight of nine stairs gave way in a crashing, shrieking and screaming which alarmed everyone in the courtroom.
The stairs were made of stone blocks, fixed onto the outside wall and resting one on another on the inward side where the balusters were fixed to themselves, as they circled round, one flight above another. On each stair of the third flight the crowd was so dense that people were being pressed hard against the balusters. They gave way and then the steps themselves fractured close to the wall. The broken steps and the people fell down onto the flight below. Many had miraculous escapes, except one young man his body was seen lying upon one of the stones, with his face partly cut off, his skull crushed and his brains scattered about. It was some time before he could be recognised, but at length he was identified by an inscription upon the watch he had in his pocket as Mr J E Moss, 18 years old, the son of Mr James Moss, a builder in the town, who was in the courtroom above. His features were so disfigured by the crushing mass of stone which had fallen on his head, and his clothes so badly torn and soiled by the falling rubbish that Mr Moss on leaving the court failed to recognise the corpse as his son.
Those marooned in the court room above, including magistrates, had to climb out of a window and use ladders to make their way onto a neighbouring building and so down into the churchyard.
The court had to meet again to deal with the original horror of the death of William Hales; the men all pleaded guilty and were sentenced accordingly.
James Moss who sadly had his life cut short is buried in St John’s graveyard in the family box tomb which can be seen by the holly bush at N51 43.653 E000 28.153.
The cache has been located within the churchyard with permission. It has been recommended that cachers Do Not seek the cache at night.
If anybody would like to expand on this series please do so. Could you please let sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication.