Record Details

NHER Number:4713
Type of record:Monument
Name:Site of St George's Chapel, Great Cressingham

Summary

This is the site of a medieval chapel or hermitage dedicated to St George, and the outline of the chapel is clearly visible on aerial photographs. The chapel had a rectangular nave and an apisdal chancel, suggesting a date of about 1100, and the chapel is surrounded by a rectangular enclosure. The chapel in recorded in documents until the late 16th century, and stood close to the site of a medieval fair, and the possible site of a medieval stone cross.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TF 8560 0035
Map Sheet:TF80SE
Parish:GREAT CRESSINGHAM, BRECKLAND, NORFOLK

Full description

5 June 1973. Ordnance Survey air photography.
Cropmarks of rectangular enclosure.
D. Voisey (NLA) 8 August 1995.

Site of chapel and hermitage (Ordnance Survey).
Ploughed out only very slight undulations in what is now one large field.
Visited by E. Rose (NAU) 19 April 1978.

Rectangular cropmark of surrounding bank visible on aerial photographs.
D. A. Edwards (NAU) 16 March 1981.

See also (S1), not seen but reported by [1] on 29 November 1982.
NGR cited as TF 856 004.
D. A. Edwards (NAU) 1 December 1982

Chapel still mentioned in 1598, see (S2).

1986 to 1987. Fieldwalking. Finder's field GC1 context 2
Much building material on surface.
1 Roman tile, 8 medieval unglazed, 3 glazed Grimston, 3 glazed red earthenware, 2 post medieval stoneware, 1 unidentified unglazed tile or brick.
Details under file NHER 24669.
Identified by A. Rogerson (NAU)
E. Rose (NAU) 12 July 1988.

(S3) states that this may have been a pre-Conquest church, a fairstead, and may have had a stone cross nearby.
See discussion in (S3), which notes a documentary reference to a stone chapel in a document of about 1320. The fair is first mentioned in 1446, and may have been associated with the chapel.
Appropriate section from (S4) in file.

22 July 1996. NLA air photography.
Cropmarks of rectangular enclosure still visible.
H. Clare (NLA), 4 December 2001.

25 July 1996. NLA air photography.
Rectangular enclosure still visible as cropmarks.
S. Massey (NLA), 22 November 2001.

Monument Types

  • RECTANGULAR ENCLOSURE (Unknown date)
  • CHURCH (Late Saxon - 851 AD to 1065 AD)
  • BANK (EARTHWORK) (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • CHAPEL (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • CHAPEL (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • CROSS (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • HERMITAGE (RELIGIOUS) (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • MARKET (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Associated Finds

  • BRICK (Undated)
  • TILE (Undated)
  • TILE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
  • POT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • POT (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Protected Status

  • SHINE

Sources and further reading

---Aerial Photograph: OS 73-243-068.
---Aerial Photograph: OS 73-243-069.
---Aerial Photograph: Edwards, D.A. (NLA). 1996. TF 8500K - N.
---Aerial Photograph: Edwards, D.A. (NLA). 1996. TF 8500P - Q.
---Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
---Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Medieval. Cressingham (Great).
---Secondary File: Secondary File.
<S1>Aerial Photograph: Unit TF8500D-E, Cambridge BIQ75-77.
<S2>Unpublished Document: Tanner Index.
<S3>Article in Serial: Davison, A. 1994. The Field Archaeology of Bodney and the Stanta Extension. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XLII Pt I pp 57-79.
<S4>Monograph: Batcock, N. 1991. The Ruined and Disused Churches of Norfolk. East Anglian Archaeology. No 51. Microfiche 5:G12. No 163; p 53.

Related records - none

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