Bagthorpe with Barmer is a

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 ...

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

. The parish includes the

hamlets A hamlet is a human settlement that is smaller than a town or village. Its size relative to a parish can depend on the administration and region. A hamlet may be considered to be a smaller settlement or subdivision or satellite entity to a lar ...

of Bagthorpe and Barmer, it is around west of

Fakenham Fakenham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is situated on the River Wensum, about north west of Norwich. The town is the junction of several local roads, including the A148 from King's Lynn to Cromer, the A1067 to Norw ...

and is 14 miles north-east of

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, nor ...

. As the population of the civil parish remained less than 100 during the 2011 Census, it was included in the civil parish of Stanhoe. The civil parish has an area of and in the 2001 census had a population of 53 in 22 households. For the local government, the parish falls within the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

King's Lynn and West Norfolk King's Lynn and West Norfolk is a local government district with borough status in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in the town of King's Lynn. The population of the Local Authority at the 2011 Census was 147,451. History The district w ...

Parish church

Barmer All Saints 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 ...

. It is a small building and is one of 124 existing

round-tower church Round-tower churches are a type of church found mainly in England, mostly in East Anglia; of about 185 surviving examples in the country, 124 are in Norfolk, 38 in Suffolk, six in Essex, three in Sussex and two each in Cambridgeshire and Berksh ...

es in Norfolk. The church sits off the road, about 250 yards across a field in a copse of trees. In 1602 it was already a ruin, but in 1885 the Kerslake family decided to turn it into a mausoleum and employed the architect

Frederick Preedy Frederick Preedy (2 June 1820 – 28 March 1898) was an architect and glass painter in England. Life Preedy was born in Offenham near Evesham in Worcestershire and died at his son's home in Croydon. During his early life his family moved fr ...

to restore the church. What exists today is largely Victorian, but there are remains of its earlier history. The round tower is Norman, but the origins may have been Anglo-Saxon as indicated by the flint

quoin Quoins ( or ) are masonry Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry con ...

s at the west end of the nave. The chancel arch is 12th Century and the nave 13th Century. The church was declared redundant in 1970, and it was taken over by the Norfolk Churches Trust in 1978. The Kerslake

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

can be seen on a cast-iron tympanum above the door. The Kerslakes owned much of the surrounding land as well as the manor house. The house no longer exists, but part of the estate is incorporated into Manor Farm. Several of the Kerslake family are buried in the churchyard. The Kerslakes originate from the southwest of England where the family-owned shipyards building ships for the Royal Navy. Due to the considerable amount of work undertaken for the Admiralty during the 18th century, the family became wealthy and also a government creditor.

References

External links

Information from Genuki Norfolk
on Bagthorpe
Information from Genuki Norfolk
on Barmer
All Saints on the European Round Tower Churches Website
* * King's Lynn and West Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk {{Norfolk-geo-stub