Church of St Wandregelius is a Grade II* listed building in the South Norfolk local planning authority area, England. First listed on 26 November 1959. A Medieval Church. 1 related planning application.
Church of St Wandregelius
- WRENN ID
- fading-buttress-sedge
- Grade
- II*
- Local Planning Authority
- South Norfolk
- Constituency
- South Norfolk MP: Ben Goldsborough (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 26 November 1959
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Church of St Wandregelius, Caistor St. Edmund and Bixley, NR14 8RY
- OS grid reference
- TG 258 049
- Coordinates
- 52.59553, 1.33339
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St. Wandregelius is a parish church, largely dating to 1868, with an early 14th-century west tower that was repaired in the early 16th century and restored in 1868. The church is constructed of flint with ashlar dressings and some brick, with plain tile roofs. It comprises a west tower, a nave, a continuous chancel, and transepts.
The square, unbuttressed two-stage west tower has a 19th-century two-light Flowing window on its west face. Ogeed lancets light the belfry, and the tower is topped with a crenellated brick parapet. A polygonal stair turret is located on the south-east corner with brick quoins. A gabled south porch features a double-chamfered entrance arch and large kneelers, and contains two trefoiled lancet windows. The nave walls contain two trefoiled lancets, while a gabled north vestry, replacing the original north door, has a two-light Flowing window. The south transept has a gabled form, with a two-light Perpendicular window below a cusped triangular window. The north transept is similar, but an arched door replaces the window. The east end is lit by a three-light Perpendicular window.
Inside, the tall, chamfered tower opening has a double-chamfered stilted arch. There is a plain 19th-century octagonal font. The nave roof is of 1868 design, with one tier of butt purlins, collars, and a ridge piece. A 19th-century screen, consisting of two bays to the right and left of a central opening, separates the nave from the chancel, and features much cusped tracery. The transeptal chapel space has a quadripartite timber roof, reminiscent of a design by S.S. Teulon at Brettenham, Norfolk, in 1852.
Significant monuments are present, including a fine Renaissance monument to Edward Ward (1583): Ionic pilasters support a pediment above a strapwork frieze, which frames a coat of arms and a relief depicting Edward Ward and his wife kneeling at a prayer desk, surrounded by their nine sons and three daughters. A plinth to the monument incorporates strapwork decoration. A monument to Sir Randall Ward (1762) features two almost free-standing weeping cherubs flanking an inscription panel, with an achievement in the apron and an open pediment above. A wall monument to Sir Edward Ward (1742), signed by Robert Page, incorporates two marble Corinthian columns, a broken segmental pediment, an inscription panel, and three putti heads in the apron. Lastly, an obelisk monument to Susan, Countess Rosebery (1771) stands above a plain stone sarcophagus.
Local climate
Church of St Wandregelius sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 710 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 88% 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 24 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 75% of listed buildings. Of these, 13 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.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 1 application
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
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