St Mary's Church is a

redundant Redundancy or redundant may refer to: Language * Redundancy (linguistics), information that is expressed more than once Engineering and computer science * Data redundancy, database systems which have a field that is repeated in two or more table ...

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

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 Berks ...

near the village of

Moulton St Mary Moulton St Mary is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Beighton, in the Broadland district of Norfolk, England. It is about 2 miles south of Acle. The village has a garden centre and a car garage. In 1931 the parish had a pop ...

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 ...

, 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, ...

as a designated 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 ...

, 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 Acle ( ) is a market town on the River Bure on the The Broads, Norfolk Broads in Norfolk, located halfway between Norwich and Great Yarmouth. It has the only bridge across the River Bure between Wroxham and Great Yarmouth.Ordnance Survey (2005). ...

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 (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

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

and red brick, with

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

dressings. The tower and nave are tiled, and the chancel and porch are

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

d. 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 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

style, the nave and most of the chancel are Gothic, the porch is Tudor, and the east wall of the chancel is in Georgian 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 A sundial is a horology, horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the position of the Sun, apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the ...

in the southwest corner, a

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

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

bays A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

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 (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

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

Perpendicular In geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at right angles, i.e. at an angle of 90 degrees or π/2 radians. The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the '' perpendicular symbol'', � ...

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 th ...

. 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 window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...

s. 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. Lutherans and Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a pisci ...

and a

sedilia In church architecture, sedilia (plural of Latin ''sedīle'', "seat") are seats, typically made of stone, located on the liturgical south side of the altar—often within the chancel—intended for use by the officiating priest, deacon, an ...

. 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

baluster A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its ...

s 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, or ...

. On the wall of the nave are 14th-century wall paintings in relatively good condition. Those on the north wall depict

Saint Christopher Saint Christopher (, , ; ) is venerated by several Christian denominations. According to these traditions, he was a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd-century Roman Empire, Roman emperor Decius (), or alternatively under the emperor Maximin ...

, 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 A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...

dates from the early 17th century; it is finely carved, and has a backboard and a tester. The

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...

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 rectors of the church's

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

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 includes ...

and

Charles Parkin Charles Parkin (1690–1765) was an English clergyman and antiquarian. He was rector of Oxburgh in Norfolk, and assisted Francis Blomefield on his history of the county, completing it after Blomefield's death. Life The son of William Parkin of L ...

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 p ...

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 * Dean Sw ...

of St Mary's College, Norwich, which had owned the

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

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. He was an Anglican bishop of Chichester, and subsequently of Coventry and Lichfield. Biography He was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, the Paris ...

(later

Bishop of Chichester The Bishop of Chichester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the counties of East Sussex, East and West Sussex. The Episcopal see, see is based in t ...

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