Church Micro 6392...Tunstead
St Mary the Virgin
Tunstead has been a place where local people have worshipped since before the Norman Conquest and the current church itself dates back to c. 1327. St Mary the Virgin stands slightly away and to the North-East of Market Street (the main street through Tunstead) although it is situated in the centre of the actual village boundary.
Some notable features of the church include iron work of 1370 around the door handle. The rood screen which dates from 1470 and on it are painted the twelve apostles and four doctors of the Latin Church.
Before the existing building a smaller church existed at least since the Norman Period and was rebuilt on profits from open field farming on Tunstead's good soil and from Tunstead's share of the weaving industry where Worsted manufacture flourished in parishes north of Norwich in the fourteenth century.
Despite the Black Death of 1349 and the Peasant's Revolt of 1381 much work was done to update the building for worshippers and parishioners from around 1371 and during the 15th Century.
More recently, the North Isle was rebuilt in the 1950s although, sadly, the main stained glass window is now lost to brickwork, believed to be following attempts by the Luftwaffe to destroy the area during the 2nd World War.
The size of the church, indicates that Tunstead was once a large and central village. The church has been likened to one of thegreat cistern abbeys of France due to it's vast central hall and arcades. According to Blomefield's History of Norfolk the Church of St Mary was also described as 'a large and handsome pile' and belongs to the Decorated and Perpendicular periods of medieval church architecture.
Geocache
The geocache is situated a short walk from the church. There is parking available at the church.
This cache replaces an archived church micro, originally hidden by Old Shuck, but with a different hide location.
In the grounds of the church you will find an obelisk celebrating the Johnson family. Use the information on the oberlisk to work out the final cache coordiantes.
Final Coordiantes: N 52° (B-5)(K-3).AH(Q-1)
E 001° M(D-3).E(P-9)C
JR = ABCD
GR = EFGH
GB = JKLM
M = NOPQ
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If you would like to add to the Church Micro series yourself then please visit
http://churchmicro.co.uk/
There is also a Church Micro Stats & Information page that can be found at
http://www.15ddv.me.uk/geo/cm/index.html
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* Well done Snoopyus on the FTF! *