Church Of St Edmund

The Church of St Edmund is a parish church dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries, with 19th-century restoration work carried out by R.M. Phipson (nave) and Ewan Christian (chancel). The building is constructed of flint with limestone and brick dressings, featuring thatched nave roof, slated chancel roof, and lead roofs on the north and south porches.

The church comprises a round west tower, a nave, a chancel, and north and south porches. The west tower has an octagonal bell stage from the 13th century, featuring tall lancet windows on each face. The tower is topped by an embattled parapet with flushwork panels and corner pinnacles shaped like figures on octagonal bases. A three-light Perpendicular window is located on the west side. A polygonal stair turret is situated at the south-west junction with the nave, and has been rendered. The south porch is a two-story structure from the 15th century, with a two-light window in the gable, and a square-headed east and west window. A stair parvise is found in the south-east angle, supported by a shallow brick arch. Nave windows generally date to the early 14th century, with cusped tracery, some of which has been restored. An earlier two-light window without cusping is on the west side of the porch.

A 16th-century rood stair turret is located at the south-east corner of the nave, constructed of flint with brick quoins and elongated quatrefoil openings. The chancel features three-light Decorated windows divided by staged buttresses. A low, unglazed side window on the south of the chancel has a wooden shutter. The 3-light Decorated east window has been restored. The north porch, dating to the 15th century is made of knapped and galleted flint with a polygonal stair turret at the north-east angle, featuring flushwork in the base courses. The doorway is carved with kneeling figures holding rosaries, possibly representing donors. Above the doorway is a triple opening with a stooled niche flanked by two lower openings with cusped ogee heads, all under square label moulds. A two-light ‘Y’ tracery window is situated to the west of the porch. A 19th-century stone-dressed flint flue with an octagonal stone chimney cap is on the west side. The 19th-century roofs include a ribbed barrel vault with a boarded ceiling over the nave, and a scissor-braced rafter roof over the chancel. The rood stair turret on the south-east corner of the nave contains reconstructed remains of a Romanesque doorway found in the nave walls in 1927. A 15th-century screen features two-light divisions with ogee heads in two tiers, and painted panels in the base. The church contains a very fine 15th-century octagonal font on two steps, the upper one decorated with quatrefoils and an inscription dated 1410. The stem is carved with four lions and four wild men, while the panels of the bowl depict the Trinity, four angels, a Pieta, and angels with the Instruments of the Passion, along with the Evangelistic symbols, retaining some original colouring. A 19th-century stone tower screen includes a central ogee-headed doorway. A 14th-century inscription on the north wall of the chancel refers to the Black Death of 1349, alongside a brass to Thomas Stones (+1627). A monument to Jeremiah Berry, +1767, is located on the south wall of the chancel, created by W. Lane of Norwich. The chancel also contains triple dropped-cill sedilia with ogee arches, and a good piscina with a crocketted head and shelf.