Record Details

NHER Number:2155
Type of record:Building
Name:St Andrew's Church, Little Snoring

Summary

This parish church is remarkable in that it has a round west tower of Saxon or Saxo-Norman date that is detached from the nave, chancel and south porch of the building. The tower's blocked eastern arch indicates that it served a separate church, now gone, to the one now standing immediately north. It is not certain if the demolished old church was replaced by the building to the north, or whether the two churches coexisted alongside one another. The issue is not helped by the Norman north and south doors to the nave, though these may be reused, and it is possible that the northern church was a rebuild of the southern one that collapsed at some point, leaving only the tower standing.
Inside the main body of the church is a circular decorated Norman font, a bench inscribed with the date 1632 and a rare Royal Arms of James II of 1686. The single deck pulpit is late 18th century.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TF 9530 3256
Map Sheet:TF93SE
Parish:LITTLE SNORING, NORTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

Detached round tower, attached to earlier church with ironbound conglomerate. (S1) says pre-Conquest but (S2) says Saxo-Norman.

1962. From church two pieces of ironbound conglomerate.

Letter in (S3) suggests font is 8th to 9th century though it is usually called Norman.

[1] notes a blocked triangular-headed opening over the tower arch, and blocked large windows pierced by 14th century lancets, on the detached tower.
E. Rose (NAU), 1983.

1987. Organ, said to be unique, by C. Howard of Fakenham about 1810, restored. See (S4).
E. Rose (NAU), 15 July 1987

10 June 1989. On west side of footpath leading south from church, and about 10m north of southern churchyard boundary.
Context 2: sherd of glazed Grimston ware in four sub-sherds with recent breaks.
Found and identified by A.Rogerson (NLA), 9 February 1990.

1 February 2000. Drainage trench revealed the foundation of the east wall of the possible porticus on the north side of the church. See report and sketch plan (S6) in file.
See also (S11).
D. Gurney (NLA), 2 February 2000

Press cuttings (S3),(S4) and (S5) in file. Appropriate section from (S7) in file.

This is one of the sixty five Norfolk churches selected for (S8).
See (S9).
D. Gurney (NLA), 17 February 2006.

The walls are principally made up of rubble (mainly flint, but with conglomerate sandstone and brick) and coursed red brickwork. The dressed stonework is mostly in limestone or various periods and origins, principally from Barnack in Lincolnshire and Caen in Normandy. The roofing is in glazed black and unglazed red pantiles. Significant works in the late 18th century and late 19th century restoration were limited due to a lack of funds. Between 1730 and 1765, Blomefield suggests that the tower contained three bells, the nave was covered in lead whilst the chancel was tiled and that there had historically been a 16th century chapel of St Anthony in or attached to St Andrew’s. In 1772 a survey proposed that the nave was re-roofed in blue pantiles. It also suggested that the round tower was ruinous in the upper part and therefore too weak to support the three bells. The proposal for this was to take down part of the steeple and to make the space fit for hanging one bell. A large section of the north-west wall was rebuilt, or re-skinned, with red brick, whilst the remaining wall reverts to the original flint rubble. The blocked door on the north wall of the nave and the 15th century three-light perpendicular window appear to have been repaired before 1772 due to the use of the English bond. It is suggested that the date for this work coincides with the demolition of the associated structure to the north.
The heads of the windows along the north elevation of the chancel are carved from a yellower Bath-type stone, whilst the rest of the moulding is in the whiter stone found elsewhere in the building. These were possibly re-cut in the 1880 restoration. The south chancel wall also has two two-light windows which have had their heads replaced with Victorian work in a different stone.
See (S10).
C. Kennett (NLA), 19 August 2010.

Monument Types

  • CHURCH (Late Saxon - 851 AD to 1065 AD)
  • CHURCH (Late Saxon - 851 AD to 1065 AD)
  • CHURCH (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • CHURCH (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Associated Finds

  • ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENT (Early Saxon to Medieval - 410 AD to 1539 AD)
  • POT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Protected Status

  • Listed Building
  • Listed Building

Sources and further reading

---Aerial Photograph: TF9532 D,E.
---Monograph: Bryant, T. H. 1900. Hundred of Gallow. The Churches of Norfolk. Vol VI. pp 144-148.
---Record Card: Ordnance Survey Staff. 1933-1979?. Ordnance Survey Record Cards. TF 93 SE 17 [4].
---Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
---Monograph: Pevsner, N. and Wilson, B. 1997. Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East. The Buildings of England. 2nd Edition. pp 589-590.
---Website: Knott, S.. 2005. St Andrew, Little Snoring. http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/littlesnoring/littlesnoring.htm. 25 June 2010.
---Leaflet: Gurney, A. & J.. 1973. The Church of St Andrew, Little Snoring.
---Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Late Saxon. Snoring (Little).
---Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Medieval. Snoring (Little).
---Secondary File: Secondary File.
---Slide: Various. Slide.
---Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Miscellaneous. Snoring, Little.
<S1>Publication: Cautley, H. M. 1949. Norfolk Churches. p 245.
<S2>Publication: Taylor, H. M. and Taylor, J. 1965. Anglo-Saxon Architecture. pp 554-555.
<S3>Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1951. Saxon Fonts (letter to the editor). 15 January.
<S4>Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1987. Organ work. 7 July.
<S5>Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1988. Photograph of St Andrew's Church. 24 February.
<S6>Unpublished Document: Gurney, D.. 2000. St Andrew's Church.. 1 February.
<S7>Monograph: Batcock, N. 1991. The Ruined and Disused Churches of Norfolk. East Anglian Archaeology. No 51. Microfiche 5:G12. No 104; p 52.
<S8>Publication: Jenkins, S. 2000. England's Thousand Best Churches.
<S9>Designation: English Heritage. National Heritage List for England. List Entries 1049264 and 1373753.
<S10>Thesis: Hunter, G.. 2006. St Andrew's Little Snoring..
<S11>Article in Serial: Gurney, D. and Penn, K. (eds). 2001. Excavations and Surveys in Norfolk 2000. Norfolk Archaeology. XLIII Pt IV pp 707-728. p 716.

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