The village of Walton-on-Thames is at the end of its tether as a village, and the only interesting things in it are its church, and what is known as the “Old Manor House.” Dark yews form a fine setting to the old church, whose tower of flint and rubble, with repairs effected in brick, survives untouched by the restorer of recent years. The interior, although greatly suburbanised, discloses some as yet unspoiled Transitional-Norman portions. Here, in the stonework near the pulpit, is cut the famous non-committal verse ascribed to Queen Elizabeth, on the sacramental bread-and-wine:
Christ was the worde and spake it;
He took the bread and brake it;
And what the Worde doth make it,
That I believe and take it.
Here is preserved a scold’s, or gossip’s, bridle, otherwise “the branks,” an old English instrument of punishment and repression for a scolding or gossiping woman. On it is, or was, the inscription,
Chester presents Walton with a bridle
To curb women’s tongues that talk too idle.
The instrument is now so rusted that it is difficult, if not impossible, to trace the words. The date of it, and who this Chester was, are not known; but legend has long told that he was a gentleman who lost a valuable estate in the neighbourhood through the malevolence and irresponsibility of a lying woman.
The bridle, originally of bright steel, was made to pass over the head, and round it, and is provided with a flat piece of metal, two inches in length and one in breadth, for insertion in the mouth, the effect being to press the tongue down and to prevent speech. It is duly provided with hinges and a padlock.