St Mary's Church is a redundant Anglican round-tower church near the village of Moulton St Mary,

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 No ...

, England. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a designated Grade I

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 Irel ...

, and is under the care of the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

. It stands some to the south of Acle in an isolated position adjacent to a farm.

History

The tower dates from the 12th century, and 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 ...

and

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 ...

from the 14th century. The south porch was added during the 16th century, and the east wall of the chancel was rebuilt during the 1870s.

Architecture

Exterior

St Mary's is constructed in

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

and red brick, with

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

dressings. The tower and nave are tiled, and the chancel and porch are slated. Its plan consists of a nave with a south porch, a chancel, and a west tower. The tower is in

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

style, the nave and most of the chancel are

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

, the porch is Tudor, and the east wall of the chancel is in

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

style. The tower is round with a conical roof. It has a slit window high on the south side, on the north side is a louvred bell opening, and on the west side is a blocked two-light Decorated window. The porch has a sundial in the southwest corner, a

niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...

over the doorway, and blocked three-light windows on each side. The south wall of the nave is divided into three bays by stepped

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...

es. In the middle bay is a three-light window with

Perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It ca ...

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the ...

. In each of the two lateral bays is a two-light window with Y-tracery. The south wall of the chancel contains two two-light windows and a priest's door. The chancel roof is at a lower level than that of the nave; the east

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

of the nave is hung with slates. The east wall of the chancel is brick and contains a three-light window. At the northeast corner of the chancel is a stone and flint buttress. In the north wall of the chancel, and in the eastern bay of the nave, are wide single lancet windows. The other bays of the north wall of the nave contain two- and three-light windows, and a doorway.

Interior

In the south wall of the chancel is a double

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Roman Ca ...

and a

sedilia In church architecture, sedilia (plural of Latin ''sedīle'', "seat") are seats, usually made of stone, found on the liturgical south side of an altar, often in the chancel, for use during Mass for the officiating priest and his assistants, the ...

. The benches in the chancel date from the 17th century and are carved with poppyheads. The communion rail dates from the same period and is carried on turned balusters and posts. At the southeast corner of the nave are the remains of a former stairway that led to a

rood loft The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, o ...

. On the wall of the nave are 14th-century wall paintings in relatively good condition. Those on the north wall depict Saint Christopher, and on the south wall are paintings representing the Seven Acts of Mercy. The nave also contains a wall monument to Edmund Anguish who died in 1616. The octagonal pulpit dates from the early 17th century; it is finely carved, and has a backboard and a tester. The font is also octagonal, each face is carved with a pair of blind arches; it dates from the 13th century, and is carried on a central stem and eight shafts.

List of rectors

The following

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

s of the church's

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

are listed by

Francis Blomefield Rev. Francis Blomefield (23 July 170516 January 1752), FSA, Rector of Fersfield in Norfolk, was an English antiquarian who wrote a county history of Norfolk: ''An Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk''. It include ...

and Charles Parkin in their ''An essay towards a topographical history of the county of Norfolk''

, Charles Parkin, ''An essay towards a topographical history of the county of Norfolk'
pp. 109-110
/ref> *1320: Robert Rowland *1325: Ralph de Hakeford *1350: Roger de Mondegone *1350: Robert de Norton *1352: John de Bestharp *1361: Adam de Foxler *1383: John Wayte *1383: John Harvey *1383: John Boteler

List of vicars

From 1403,

parish priest A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

s were appointed as

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

s, rather than rectors, the rectory having been appropriated by the

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of St Mary's College, Norwich, which had owned the benefice since about 1361. The following vicars are listed by Blomefield and Parkin. *1403: John Virley *1403: John Bawdre *1403: John Scoole *1420: Thomas Petit *1422: John Man *1427: William Snelling *1427: William Taylor *1429: Clement Welle *1434: Thomas Alfred *1448: Thomas Hanworth *1453: John Domlyn *1461: John Norwich *1461: John Ramton *1495: John Rudham *1502: Richard Thompson *1505: John Frampton *1507: Robert Barker *1511:

Richard Sampson Richard Sampson (died 25 September 1554) was an English clergyman and composer of sacred music, who was Anglican bishop of Chichester and subsequently of Coventry and Lichfield. Biography He was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, the Paris S ...

(later

Bishop of Chichester The Bishop of Chichester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East and West Sussex. The see is based in the City of Chichester where the bishop's sea ...

and of Lichfield and Coventry) *1512: John Rogers *1541: John Younge *1541: John Ludbury *1560: Robert Mourton *1574: Roger Beweller *1617: Robert Pepys *1658: Thomas Essex *1668: William Brook *1672: Thomas Wilson *1699: John Sallet *1711: John Pitts *1723: Horace Fawcett *1726: Thomas Carter *1737: Roger Geddings

References

External links

Includes photographs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moulton, St Mary's Church Grade I listed churches in Norfolk Church of England church buildings in Norfolk English churches with Norman architecture Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust English Gothic architecture in Norfolk Round-tower churches