Church of St Mary 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 Mary

WRENN ID
lesser-basalt-torch
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 Mary, North Pickenham
OS grid reference
TF 869 053
Coordinates
52.61399, 0.75948
Source
Historic England listing

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

Description

The Church of St Mary is a former parish church located in North Pickenham, now disused. The nave dates from the 11th century, while the west tower is likely from the 14th century. The chancel has been replaced with a small altar chamber from the post-medieval period. The church is constructed of flint, partly rendered, with brick and limestone dressings. It features a pantiled roof over the nave and a hipped slate roof over the chancel.

The square, unbuttressed west tower has a restored west door in the Perpendicular style, which includes a square head and spandrel panels. Inside, the church contains wall paintings dating from around 1090 to the 17th century, which are of exceptional interest. There is also a 2-light west window with cusped Y-tracery. The north and south nave walls each have small high-level semicircular-headed double splayed windows, with the north window showing traces of painted decoration in the reveal. The north-east window retains some remains of tracery, likely from the 14th century.

The 14th-century tower arch features a triple plain chamfer and polygonal piers, and there are blocked north and south doors. An angle piscina with a petalled bowl is located at the south-east corner of the nave. The nave roof, which has been re-erected, is simple and consists of three tie beams and two tiers of butt-purlins from the post-medieval period. The plain semicircular chancel arch is flanked by irregular arched niches.

Local climate

Church of St Mary sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 730 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 79% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 95% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 31 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 62% 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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