Church of St Michael is a Grade I listed building in the Breckland local planning authority area, England. First listed on 23 June 1960. A Medieval Church.

Church of St Michael

WRENN ID
eastward-rubblework-harvest
Grade
I
Local Planning Authority
Breckland
Constituency
South West Norfolk MP: Terry Jermy (Lab)
Country
England
Date first listed
23 June 1960
Type
Church
Period
Medieval
Address
Church of St Michael, Didlington
OS grid reference
TL 778 969
Coordinates
52.54133, 0.62181
Source
Historic England listing

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

Description

The Church of St Michael is a parish church largely of medieval origin, with later additions. It is constructed primarily of flint, with ashlar and brick dressings, and has felt and slate roofs. The church comprises a west tower, an aisled nave, and a chancel.

The west tower dates to the 14th century and has diagonal buttresses and a rectangular stair turret to the south-east. It features a two-light west window with restored ogee tracery, two rectangular loops to the first floor, and four two-light bell openings with ogee tracery. The tower is topped with a crenellated parapet and two gargoyles. The nave and chancel have undergone modern re-facing. The north aisle has three two-light windows with ogee tracery, a modern plain-chamfered doorway, and 15th century panel-traceried east and west windows with flat heads. The south aisle has four heavily restored two-light panel-traceried windows with flat heads, and a similar three-light east window. A 14th-century wave-moulded doorway is also present, along with six two-light late medieval clearstorey windows. The chancel has three restored hollow-chamfered lancet windows on the south side, the westernmost retaining a square "leper's window". The north wall contains a single hollow-chamfered lancet and a two-light window consisting of a pair of lancets and a traceried quatrefoil above. A modern three-light east window with three quatrefoils is also present. A 14th-century niche is located on the north side of the east wall, featuring a cusped ogee arch and a fleuron to the hood mould.

The interior has a four-bay nave with octagonal piers supporting plain chamfered arches of two orders. The arcades differ—the southern arcade has piers with alternating wide and narrow facets, while the northern arcade has piers of regular section, but with filletted tri-lobe responds. There is a plain chamfered tower arch set on polygonal responds, and a plain chamfered chancel arch. The restored roof is of a shallow pitch, created by cambered beams, with arch braces supported on carved corbels; wall plates have been removed. A piscina is located in the south aisle, and a fine early 14th-century piscina is in the chancel, featuring three-point traceried cusping on a pair of engaged colonnettes with bell capitals. Baroque balustrade communion rails are made of marble. A 14th-century octagonal font has a Purbeck marble bowl with shallow arcading and a stem with blind tracery.

Local climate

Church of St Michael sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 700 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 89% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 98% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 29 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 68% of listed buildings. Of these, 14 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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