The Church of St Michael and All Angels,

Aylsham Aylsham ( or ) is a historic market town and civil parish on the River Bure in north Norfolk, England, nearly north of Norwich. The river rises near Melton Constable, upstream from Aylsham and continues to Great Yarmouth and the North Sea ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, is a church of

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

origins that was built in the 14th century under the patronage of

John of Gaunt John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (6 March 1340 – 3 February 1399), was an English royal prince, military leader and statesman. He was the fourth son (third surviving) of King Edward III of England, and the father of King Henry IV. Because ...

, lord of the manor of Aylsham. The church remains an active parish church and is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

History

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

gives a construction date for the church of the

14th century The 14th century lasted from 1 January 1301 (represented by the Roman numerals MCCCI) to 31 December 1400 (MCD). It is estimated that the century witnessed the death of more than 45 million lives from political and natural disasters in both Euro ...

, with further work in the fifteenth and a major

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

restoration in 1852. Pevsner suggests that the interior contains the oldest built elements, dating the arcades to the late 13th century. The 'lavish two-storeyed porch' was constructed by Richard Howard, Sheriff of Norwich, and dates from 1488. The tower is of the 14th century, a rare example of its type surviving from the Middle Ages. In the 19th century, the Rev. Edmund Yates undertook a "drastic(….)" restoration, particularly of the interior. The traditional

box pews A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries. History in England Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in ch ...

were replaced with seating for over 700 and the galleries were removed. The

landscape gardener Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructi ...

Humphry Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great designer of the classic phase of the English landscape garden, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown. His style is thought of as the precursor of the more intric ...

is buried in the churchyard and is commemorated with a memorial located outside of the

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

door. Pevsner notes that the construction date of the monument "must be considerably later than that of Repton's death". Repton, born in the neighbouring county of Suffolk in 1752, had purchased a small county estate at Sustead, near Aylsham in 1778, and many of his earliest commissions were from local Norfolk landowners. The tower holds ten bells, with the tenor bell weighing 17 long hundredweight, 1 quarter and 6 pounds, and is tuned to E flat. The tenor bell is the largest cast by Samuel Gilpin, in 1700, and it has a protection order. The bells are rung on Tuesday evenings for practice, and on Sunday mornings as well as to mark national and civic events. The tower captain is Michael Cocker. The churchyard also contains a "very rare"

mortsafe A mortsafe or mortcage was a construction designed to protect graves from disturbance, used in the United Kingdom. Resurrectionists in the United Kingdom, Resurrectionists had supplied schools of anatomy since the early 18th century. This was due ...

, an iron grille placed over a grave to prevent

body snatching Body snatching is the illicit removal of corpses from graves, morgues, and other burial sites. Body snatching is distinct from the act of grave robbery as grave robbing does not explicitly involve the removal of the corpse, but rather theft from t ...

. St Michael's remains an active parish church in the Aylsham and District ministry, and regular services are held. Reorganisation of the interior of the church in the later 20th century has enabled the holding of concerts, exhibitions and a produce market. The church also hosts a local choir. The Aylsham Heritage Centre, a museum of local history, is located in the former church hall in the grounds.

Architecture and description

The writer A. C. Benson, author of the words to "

Land of Hope and Glory "Land of Hope and Glory" is a British patriotic song, with music by Edward Elgar, written in 1901 and with lyrics by A. C. Benson added in 1902. Composition The music to which the words of the refrain 'Land of Hope and Glory, &c' below ...

", described St Michael's during a visit in 1902; "(it) is long and low, a large grey flint building, low-pitched roof-transepts and aisles, with a very fine tower". The construction is of

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. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

, sometimes knapped, with

rubble Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionar ...

infilling. The church is a

Footnotes

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