Church of St Mary is a Grade I listed building in the Breckland local planning authority area, England. First listed on 30 May 1960. A Medieval Church.

Church of St Mary

WRENN ID
seventh-stair-autumn
Grade
I
Local Planning Authority
Breckland
Constituency
Mid Norfolk MP: George Freeman (Con)
Country
England
Date first listed
30 May 1960
Type
Church
Period
Medieval
Address
Church of St Mary, Mattishall Lane, North Tuddenham
OS grid reference
TG 055 129
Coordinates
52.67529, 1.03966
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The Church of St Mary is a parish church that dates from the medieval period and later. It is constructed of flint with ashlar and brick dressings, topped with slate and pantile roofs. The church features a western tower, an exceptionally wide aisleless nave, a north porch, and a chancel. The 14th-century west tower is notable for its chequer flushwork on the diagonal buttresses. The tower has a moulded west doorway and a three-light Perpendicular window above it, along with a two-light cusped Y-traceried window on the second storey. The bell-openings are two-light with ogees and cusped soufflets, and the tower is capped with a crenellated parapet adorned with fine flushwork and crocketted corner pinnacles.

The nave is buttressed and has six three-light panel traceried Perpendicular windows. The two-storey porch features diagonal buttresses, an ogee-headed niche above the plainly moulded entrance, and four two-light Y-traceried side windows. The north and south nave doorways are also moulded. The chancel has four three-light panel traceried side windows and a Victorian five-light east window in Perpendicular style. Both the nave and chancel have parapets with a fleuron-decorated cornice.

Inside, the tower and chancel arches have polygonal responds and plain chamfered arches. There is a piscina in the south nave. The lower parts of the nave and chancel walls are decorated with colourful Victorian encaustic tiles, and there are Victorian wall paintings. In the chancel, there are two monuments, including a wall monument in memory of Katherine Skippe (died 1629) made of black and white marble. This monument features a pair of Doric columns flanking an inscription, supported on a pedestal with consoles and a strapwork apron between. Above it is an achievement with deeply carved mantling, contained within an aedicule with a scrolled open pediment and flanking heraldic beasts. Below is a tomb chest, likely of Thomas Skippe, with finely carved heraldry. The church also retains a surviving 15th-century chancel screen dado with eight paintings of saints, and four re-set late medieval painted dado panels in the tower screen of unknown provenance. The nave windows, west window, and lower side windows of the porch contain high-quality medieval glass, and the church features decorative Victorian roofs.

Local climate

Church of St Mary receives an average of 740 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 74% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 90% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 29 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 67% of listed buildings. Of these, 16 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

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