The interior is typical of a late 19th century small church, made slightly urban in feel by the crispness of the pitch pine and Minton tiling. In the nave there is an elegant brass candelabra which is a common feature in other north Norfolk churches. All the walls are built of flint stones gathered from the fields. There are also blocks of carstone-sand cemented by iron oxides to form an ironstone. The exterior of the south wall used to have a cement cladding but this was removed to reveal the flint stone in 1992. At the same time the eastern parapet of the church was rebuilt.
The foundations of the destroyed south aisle can be seen beside the church to the east of the main south door. Almost the entire wall is a rebuild where the former porch, aisle arches and clerestories were. To the left of the door there are large stone quoins where the south-western corner of the original church was; theses could date as far back as Saxon times, and they are adjoined by a section of early wall with its distinct zigzagging herringbone pattern
Low down beside the door there is a scratch dial – a primitive form of sundial used to help determine the correct time for services in an age when clocks were exceptionally rare or non existent. A peg gnomon was placed in the hole in the centre and the sun cast its shadow on the line of the dial; this dial apparently had a metal peg. Scratch dials rarely give accurate time, the gnomon pointed straight out horizontally and so the shadow would not record the same hours at all times of the year. This is not likely to have been its original place, which was probably on the demolished former porch.
The church has a good collection of medieval and continental glass which was transferred from Catton Hall, near Norwich, in 1950. The best of it is in the east window, a charming St Agnes set in the centre and then other panels depicting St Bartholomew, a monk and a Bishop. An intriguing feature of two of the panels is that two little heads fill a corner of the bottom of each. Almost certainly, they are portraits of the donors. Beside the heads, the barleycorn motifs which are typical of the Norwich School of the 15th Century are scattered across the floor beneath the Saints' feet. In a south window of the chancel are two large panels of 16th Century continental glass, including a floating angel.
There are two unusual features in the nave. One is a set of Royal Arms for George VI, which is possibly unique in East Anglia, the norm being for Elizabeth II. Along the wall from it is a memorial for Theophilia Fleming, the daughter of Peter Wilson Esquire of this Town. She died in 1743 at the age of 42, although the memorial gives the date as ‘6th Janry 1742/3’, as this was in the days when the New Year began on March 25th. The English calendar changed from this practice to the current one just ten years later.
The area in front of the entrance is dominated by a large pair of flowering cherry trees either side of the path, beneath which the banks are thick with cowslips in the Spring. The lamp at the gate was subscribed for by the parish and records the coronation of HM Queen Elizabeth II in 1953; it was restored and a new wrought iron arch installed in 1993. Immediately to the west of the churchyard the ground has been cleared and improved as a public space. The village flagpole has been erected and benches added, while the defunct red telephone box has been renovated and converted into a home for a heart defibrillator. In 2014 the landscaping was completed with a lawn and news shrubs and trees.
The cache is located outside the church walls. GZ is overlooked by houses so please take care when retrieving and replacing. The cache only contains a log so please bring your own pen.
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro@gmail.com.
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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