Church Of St Mary The Virgin

The Church of St. Mary the Virgin is a parish church dating to the late 13th century, with significant alterations in the 15th and later centuries. It is constructed primarily of flint, with carstone detailing and a slated roof, with leadwork on the chancel. The church’s layout is cruciform.

The west gable features a large, five-light Decorated window with elaborate tracery supported by battlemented transoms; buttresses rise along the gable’s flanks. The south aisle has four three-light Perpendicular windows with hood moulds, while the north aisle has four similar windows, although with 19th-century tracery. A Perpendicular clerestory sits above the nave, featuring four rounded oculi on the south side and four quatrefoils on the north.

The central crossing tower has a steep roof pitch and a south-east stairs turret. The tower’s north and south faces have two blocked lancet windows, while the belfry has four oculi. The tower is topped with brick battlements and an 18th-century hood and leaded cupola. Around 1800, the transepts were replaced by a vestry on the south, incorporating the original east and west walls of the transepts as buttresses; a blocked, possibly Decorated window is set into the east wall. A continuation of the north aisle extends three bays to the east, with a three-light window and a substantial carstone buttress rising to the level of the bell chamber, with openings at that height.

The chancel is built of flint, clunch, and carstone in a chequerwork pattern. It features an early 19th-century straight-headed three-light window on the south and a four-light east window. A south priest’s door dates to around 1300, and a lean-to vestry is located on the north side. The south porch is Perpendicular in style, with a knapped flint face towards the churchyard and rubble flint on the east and west. Early 19th-century brick dressings adorn the porch, which includes a niche with a miniature vault.

Inside, a springing remains from a former vault at the south door, dating to around 1300, featuring two orders of detached shafts with bases and capitals, and a richly moulded arch. The nave has five-bay north and south arcades dating to around 1300, with alternating octagonal or cylindrical piers, seat bases, capitals, double hollow chamfered arches, and hood moulds with carved head label stops. The crossing, also dating to around 1300, has been altered; the western arch is the tallest, with octagonal half columns and a stilted arch bearing some red scroll painting. A figure painting of St. John Baptist is on the south-west crossing pier. The east arch and piers retain some decorative scrollwork from around 1300. A rood screen from around 1500 has one-light divisions and tracery panels. The stalls are mid-19th century. The lack of sedilia and piscina suggests a truncation or rebuilding of the chancel around 1800. A monument from 1830 commemorates Nicholas Styleman Esq., sculpted by J.B. Armer of Snettisham, and is in an Adam/Neoclassical style of around 1775. The nave contains a square stone font with quatrefoils, set upon cruciform steps. A collection of 18th-century wall tablets commemorating the Rolfe family of Heacham Hall, eight Rolfe hatchments, and the Royal Arms of George III are also present. A Jacobean classical tomb dating to 1625 and dedicated to Robert Redmayne is found in the north aisle; it is a standing monument of stone, slate, and polychrome.