Some more pictures from the tragic fire at Sheering Church

David Jackman, Editor of the widely read Internet local Newspaper, Everything Epping Forest.com, has sent me these pictures from the Sheering Church fire. You can see more at his website HERE. As the last picture shows, I was grateful to get a briefing from Fire Officers present, as to the extent of the damage.

Sad events at Sheering

I was very sad to be at Sheering Church this evening, watching brave Harlow Fire Officers do their best to put out flames that threatened havoc on this ancient Medieval building.

The Tower of Sheering Church was built in 1160 and its majesty is something special. It holds a clock - a memorial clock, put in at a much later date. As I understand it, the rest of the Church was built in the 14th Century, with the North wing be added in the nineteenth.
I remember going to the Church, with former Conservative Leader Michael Howard, so it was a bit of a shock seeing smoke from the rooftops.

The Fire Officers fortunately saved the Church from further damage and managed to preserve ancient medieval artefacts from ruin. Going inside the Church with a Fire Officer, it was tragic to see that a section had been gutted by the fire.

I felt deeply for the acting Church Vicar, church wardens and local residents, watching and waiting to see how much damage their would be to this special place of worship.

From what I was told, it was luck, that a lady walking her dog by the church, saw the fire and called emergency services. Had she not been there at that time, the whole church could have been destroyed.

As always, we have to give our thanks the emergency services - the Fire Officers - who did all they could to keep the Church from the flames.

A sad time for Sheering villagers nevertheless.

You can see more pictures of the fire at Everything Epping Forest.com
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device