St Andrew's Church, Hempstead is the Church of England parish church of Hempstead, near Stalham, Norfolk, England. Hempstead is in Lessingham

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

about east of

North Walsham North Walsham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England, within the North Norfolk district. Demography The civil parish has an area of and in the 2011 census had a population of 12,634. For the purposes of local government, the pa ...

and from the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

coast. The church is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

History

The oldest part of the church is the

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

, which was built in the 13th century. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

was built in the 14th century. The nave used to have

aisles Aisles is a six-piece progressive rock band originally from Santiago, Chile. The group was formed in 2001 by brothers Germán (guitar) and Luis Vergara (keyboards), and childhood friend Rodrigo Sepúlveda (guitar). Later on, it expanded to incl ...

, but these were demolished in the 15th century. In the 15th century the west tower was built and a wooden tracery screen was inserted in the chancel arch. The upper part of the chancel screen has Perpendicular Gothic tracery of an unusual type. The lower part has two rows of eight panels which had 15th-century paintings of saints, most of which survive. In February 1982 a thief using a screwdriver removed from the screen a panel bearing a painting of

Saint Eligius Saint Eligius (also Eloy, Eloi or Loye; french: Éloi; 11 June 588 – 1 December 660 AD) is the patron saint of goldsmiths, other metalworkers, and coin collectors. He is also the patron saint of veterinarians, the Royal Electrical and Mechani ...

. The panel has never been recovered. The pulpit and reading desk are 17th-century. The west tower has three bells. The second bell was cast by an unknown founder at the end of the 14th century. Brasyers of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

cast the tenor bell at the end of the 15th century. Thomas Newman of Norwich cast the treble bell in 1707.

References

External links

* 13th-century church buildings in England Church of England church buildings in Norfolk Grade II* listed churches in Norfolk {{england-church-stub

History

References

Further reading

External links