Church Of St Mary Magdalen

Church of St Mary Magdalen

Parish church dating from around 1180–1190, with significant mid-14th-century additions. The building was restored in 1798, 1843, and 1860–1862 by C. Bennett of Lynn. Constructed in limestone rubble and ashlar, the church features concrete tile and lead roofs with stone coped gables topped with cross finials and single small stacks to the north-west and south-west.

The plan comprises a nave with north and south aisles, a south porch, and a chancel. A moulded plinth and regularly placed two-stage buttresses run round the entire building. The west front is clasped by the north and south aisles and dominated by a large pointed window of the late 14th century, heavily restored in the 19th century. This window has five ogee-headed, cusped lights with a transom, panel tracery, and hood mould. A pointed doorway to the right has a hood mould running into the string course and a plank door. Beyond it stands a pointed window with three cusped ogee-headed lights, 19th-century tracery, and hood mould. A similar window appears in the west of the north aisle.

The north side has two pointed windows to the right, each with three cusped ogee-headed lights, 19th-century flowing tracery, and hood mould. A pointed doorway to the left features a double chamfered surround, hood mould running into the string course, and double panelled doors. Above this is a truncated pointed window with three cusped ogee-headed lights, 19th-century flowing tracery, and hood mould. Two similar full-length windows follow. At the east end of the north aisle stands a pointed window with three cusped elongated ogee-headed lights, 19th-century geometric tracery, and hood mould.

The chancel was rebuilt in 1843. The north side shows the outline of three blocked arcade bays with hood moulds, alongside three 19th-century windows. Two have shallow triangular heads with three trefoil-headed lights and geometrical tracery and hood moulds. One to the left has a pointed head with three ogee-headed lights, 19th-century reticulated tracery, hood mould, and head label stops. The east end displays a large pointed window with three cusped ogee-headed lights, 19th-century reticulated tracery, hood mould, and head label stops. Above is a small blind cusped ogee-headed opening. The south-east buttress contains an ornate mid-14th-century cusped, crocketed, and finialled niche.

The south side of the chancel has a pointed 19th-century window to the right with two pointed cusped lights, a quatrefoil, hood mould, and head label stops. Above this bay, eaves display foliate sculptured motifs of around 1190. Two 19th-century windows to the left have pointed heads, each with a central ogee-headed light flanked by single round-headed lights, flowing tracery, and hood moulds.

The west end of the south aisle features a pointed window with three cusped ogee-headed lights, 19th-century flowing tracery, and hood mould. The south side shows part of a blocked doorway to the right with a fragmentary hood mould. Two windows to the left have pointed heads with three cusped ogee-headed lights and 19th-century flowing tracery. Two similar windows follow beyond the gabled porch. The porch has a pointed doorway with a double chamfered head, semi-circular responds, hood mould, and head label stops. The interior has flanking stone benches and a pointed double chamfered doorway with hood mould, head label stops, and double plank doors.

Interior

The interior contains five-bay north and south arcades of around 1180 with tall round piers and semi-circular responds, topped with pointed double chamfered heads. The chancel arch, also of around 1180, has semi-circular responds and a pointed double chamfered head with hood mould. Chancel windows have hood moulds and head label stops. Mid-14th-century sedilia, restored in the 19th century, feature three crocketed and finialled gables with trefoiled heads beneath and ornate pinnacles. A piscina to the left has an ornate crocketed and finialled gable, trefoil head, and damaged gables.

A 15th-century octagonal font with traceried panels stands on an octagonal pedestal. Nineteenth-century parclose screens, reredos, altar rail, pews, and choir stalls are present. An early 14th-century sculptured fragment of a robed figure survives. The 19th-century roofs are supported on fine 14th-century stone corbels carved as crouching figures. A five-sided pulpit with fielded panels and plain pilasters has an octagonal sounding board.

Monuments include a black and white marble memorial to Hannah Frost (died 1831); a white and black marble diamond to Thomas Bockington (died 1745); a white marble oval with draperies, cherub, and cartouche to Wilhelmi Iaij (died 1706); and a black and white marble monument with pediment to Richard Dods (died 1853).