Holy Trinity Church
Holy Trinity parish church has a history dating back to the 7th century when it was founded by St Felix. A Norman church was later built on the site but the present building, which is grade 1 listed, dates from the late 15th century.
It is built in the perpendicular Gothic style from flint with stone dressings. The use of the honey coloured oolitic limestone for the more prominent architectural features on the west front and tower contribute to the overall aesthetic of the building. During restoration work the original Bath stone has been replaced by Clipsham stone which is a close match but more readily available and harder wearing.
There are fifteen clerestorey windows on either side of the nave and chance. The west tower has diagonal buttresses, battlements and decorated belfry openings.There are stair turret on south side and perpendicular window on west side. The south porch has panelled flushwork to the front with carved friezes at the base and above the entrance.The church was extensively restored between 1870 and 1900. It is situated in one of the largest graveyards in Norfolk.
Inside the church there are the tomb chests of Henry Hobart, James Hobart and his wife. The monument to Lady Williamson has a marble reclining figure on the sarcophagus. In addition there is a 15th century font, an early 16th century screen and a large Jacobean pulpit.
The geology of the Norfolk Broads
The available evidence suggests that the Norfolk Broads are underlain at depth by rocks of Silurian age (443.8 to 419.2 million years ago (mya)). There are no rocks from the Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian or Triassic period in the Broads because the area was above sea level.
This changed during the Cretaceous period (66 to 145 mya) when the Broads were part of a warm tropical sea. Mud, rich in fossils and micro-fossils, was deposited on the sea bed leading to the formation of thick layers of the sedimentary rock known as chalk. Chalk is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite which is a polymorph of calcium carbonate. Chalk is a vital aquifer for the Broads, it supplies groundwater to the rivers and their tributaries through seeps and springs in the valleys. It supplies most of the drinking water in the county, directly through boreholes and indirectly from the many rivers. However, chalk is usually very soft and unsuitable for building major structures.
Flint nodules (a type of chert) are often found in chalk as bands usually parallel to the bedding plane. Because of its availability and properties, flint is widely used in the Broads area as a building stone either as cobbles or knapped (broken) pieces. Knapped stones allow different decorative effects to be produced but it is a highly skilled process with a high level of wastage.
In the 1980s it was established that the origins of flint is silica, which came from the skeletons of tiny sponges that lived in the tropical sea. The chemical conditions where right for the silica to fill the cavities bored in the chalk by crustaceans or molluscs and be converted to flint. This explain the complex shapes of the nodules.
Fossils such as sea urchins or cockle shells are sometimes found in flint, cavities found in flints nodules are often the remains of a fossil sponge. Flint is black but flint nodules have a white outer coating or patina (also called a cortex). This is due to an optical effect the inside is dense and does not reflect light but the outside is porous and full of tiny cavities that reflect light. Careful examination of napped flint often reveals white flecks, banding or inclusions these result from the presence of fossil fragments or mineral impurities.
EarthCache questions
- At the posted coordinates is the main entrance to the church, describe the flint stones just above the sandstone carvings in terms of size, shape, and colour.
- Do you notice any patterns, speckles, or lines in the surface of the knapped flint? What do you think caused these features?
- Why do you think flint was chosen as a construction material for the church? Things to consider are its physical properties, availability, and how it weathers over time.
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