The College, including parish church of St John's College, founded 31 August 1342 by Edmund Gonville, who also founded Gonville College, Cambridge.
Very rare survival of collegiate church with surrounding buildings.
Church is nave and tower of 1342 with a 15th century porch.
Transepts and chancel demolished at Dissolution, church reroofed and altered late 16th century.
Tower designed to be defended.
Apse and interior decorations of 1904.
Medieval cross base formerly in yard, now missing.
College buildings, now private house, survive in part of 1342, restored by Teulon about 1850.
Part of moat survives.
See (S1), (S2), (S3) and (S4).
E. Rose 15 March 1988.
2001.
This is a rare example of collegiate buildings surviving adjacent to their church. Previous work has largely ignored the structure in the North-West corner of the precinct that was gutted by fire in the 20th century. Its West and South walls include large amounts of re-used medieval masonry, the latter very crude and more like a partition than an external wall. The North and West walls suggest a date of c. 1700. there are antiquarian records of demolitions of parts of the collegiate church in the early 18th century. It would appear therefore that one wall of an extremely large and now foreshortened medieval barn remains as part of a general 18th centry reconstruction.
Information from (S10).
D. Holburn (HES), 21 October 2011.
March 2002. Building Survey and Desk-based Assessment.
Survey of ruined barn and cottage at Dairy Farm, within the precinct of the College.
The east wall of the ruined barn was dated to c. 1500. It was possibly constructed at a time of expansion when extra chantry priests and 13 schoolchildren were introduced. The barn was partly rebuilt in the 18th century and converted to a dwelling in the 19th century.
See NHER 39790 and report (S5) for further details.
M. Horlock (NLA), 4 September 2002. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 9 June 2015.
October 2003. Watching Brief.
Maintained during demolition of ruined Victorian cottage at Dairy Farm.
Reused medieval jamb stone recovered.
Ruins of barn preserved.
See NHER 39790 and report (S9) for further details.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 9 June 2015.
August 2008.
Proposed extension and alterations to existing coach house. Formation of general/ wood store to replace existing storage building.
See (S6) for further information
H. White (NLA) 7 January 2009
January 2011. Norfolk NMP.
The eastern arm of the moat surrounding the main college buildings is visible on aerial photographs (S7). Tree cover obscures the aerial view of any other potential remaining sections of the originally square moat – although this is recorded as now partially infilled (NMR - TL 98 SW 18). Tree cover also obscures the area of fishponds, depicted on a restored plan of the college drawn in 1888 (S8), to the immediate west of the moat.
S. Horlock (NMP), 18 January 2011.
| --- | Article in Serial: Cozens-Hardy B. 1934. Norfolk Crosses. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XXV Pt II pp 297-336. p 324. |
| --- | Designation: Historic England. National Heritage List for England. |
| --- | Illustration: Various. Various. Architectural plans. |
| --- | Monograph: Bryant, T. H. 1901. Hundred of Guiltcross. The Churches of Norfolk. Vol VIII. pp 99-106. |
| --- | Photograph: Rose, E.. 2001. JZR 4-10. |
| --- | Photograph: KBZ. |
| --- | Designation: Listed Building Consent. |
| --- | Publication: Jeffery, P.. 2004. The Collegiate Churches of England and Wales.. p 240. |
| --- | Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1985. [Article and a letter to the editor regarding Sir Robert Jacob Buxton]. 22 November. |
| --- | Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1988. [Articles on the fund raising at St John's Church, Rushford]. 22 August. |
| --- | Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1999. Facelift for church roof. 22 September. |
| --- | Record Card: Ordnance Survey Staff. 1933-1979?. Ordnance Survey Record Cards. TL 98 SW 18b [4]. |
| --- | Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card. |
| --- | Monograph: Pevsner, N and Wilson, W. 1999. Norfolk 2: North-West and South. The Buildings of England. 2nd Edition. pp 622-623. |
| --- | Leaflet: St John the Evangelist, Rushford.. |
| --- | Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Medieval. Brettenham. |
| --- | Secondary File: Secondary File. |
| <S1> | Unpublished Document: Rose, E.. Building Report.. Building Report. |
| <S2> | Unpublished Document: Rose, E. (NLA). 2001. Building Report.. Building Report. |
| <S3> | Article in Serial: Bennett, E. K. 1888. The College of St. John Evangelist of Rushworth. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol X pp 277-312. p 307. |
| <S5> | Unpublished Contractor Report: Underdown, S. 2002. Report on an Archaeological Desk-based Study and Building Survey at Dairy Farm (Rushford College), Brettenham, Norfolk. Norfolk Archaeological Unit. 689. |
| <S6> | Unpublished Document: 2008. Design and Access Statement, Coach House, Rushford College. |
| <S7> | Vertical Aerial Photograph: Crawford Collection. 1923. NMR TL9281/1 CCC 11766/1558 13-JUL-1923. |
| <S8> | Unpublished Contractor Report: Green, F. M. L. 2006. An Archaeological Strip, Map and Sample Excavation at Land next to Rushford Church, Brettenham, Norfolk. NAU Archaeology. 1107. Fig 2. |
| <S9> | Unpublished Contractor Report: Hobbs, B. 2004. An Archaeological Watching Brief at Dairy Farm (Rushford College), Brettenham, Norfolk. Norfolk Archaeological Unit. 885. |
| <S10> | Article in Serial: Gurney, D. and Penn, K. (eds). 2002. Excavations and Surveys in Norfolk, 2001. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XLIV Pt I pp 162-177. p 163. |