Church Of St Peter

The Church of St Peter is a parish church dating from the 14th century, with earlier fabric incorporating Saxon elements. It is located on the Thetford Road in Fakenham Magna. The church is constructed of rubble flint with freestone dressings, and retains some remains of original external rendering. The roofs are plaintiled, and the building features an ornate cross on the east gable and another on the porch.

The church comprises a nave, chancel, a south porch, and a west tower. The porch was extensively restored in the mid-19th century. Two 15th-century two-light windows, each with cusped heads, are positioned to the east and west. A cusped niche, originally for a holy water stoup, is situated on the east side of the south door. The quoins of the nave's north-east and south-east corners demonstrate Saxon long-and-short work. 14th-century gabled diagonal buttresses are present on the north-west and south-west. Two blocked slit windows are visible: one immediately to the west of the porch roof and another in the north wall. The nave has four 14th-century two-light windows, three of which have unusual triangular heads. A blocked 13th-century north doorway exists, while the south doorway has a 19th-century door incorporating reused 17th-century wrought iron hinges and a ring handle with a mask boss, thought to be 14th-century. The chancel features diagonal buttresses on its north-east and south-east corners. The south side of the chancel contains three two-light windows: the westernmost is 14th-century with cusped lights and a small blocked low-side window below; the central window has 14th-century lancets with late 19th-century stained glass; and the easternmost window was altered in the 19th century. The 14th-century east window is filled with stained glass dating from 1866/7. A mid-19th-century vestry was added to the north side of the chancel.

The interior underwent heavy restoration in 1859, and features a contemporary font, benches, pulpit, lectern, and chancel furnishings. The nave is paved with 18th-century tiles in cream, red, and black. The roof is of 17th-century design, with arch-braced construction, two rows of butt purlins, and no ridge-piece or tie-beams. The windows have wide internal splays and fragments of old glass in their heads. A blocked door to a rood stair is found in the north wall, alongside a restored 15th-century screen with remnants of original carving and colouring. The chancel retains the remains of a piscina and sedilia on its south wall. A table-tomb commemorates Mr. Reynolds Taylor (d.1692), with a late 19th-century floral panel infilling an arch above it. Other furnishings include a late 17th-century holy table and two high-backed carved chairs of the same date. An organ from 1867 is housed on the north side, partially blocking the vestry.

The west tower is in three stages, featuring a chequerwork base and an embattled top. Diagonal buttresses are located at the south-west and north-west corners. A 14th-century two-light window is on the west wall of the lowest stage, with a tiny slit window beside it to illuminate the internal stair turret. Smaller rectangular windows are present on each face of the second stage, and a two-light 14th-century window is on the north, south and west faces of the top stage. An east-facing single-light window with an arched head is also present, along with a visible line of an earlier nave roof. Four carved 13th-century sepulchral slabs with crosses are embedded in the base of the tower - one attached to the north wall and three along the west wall. Three bells are housed within the tower. The church is Grade I listed, recognizing the significance of the Saxon fabric and the remains of the screen.