Skip over navigation

View a printer friendly version of this page

Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Record Details

NHER Number:	5565
Type of record:	Building
Name:	St Mary's Church, Attleborough

Summary

A large medieval church with later additions and renovations. The tower was built in the late 11th or 12th centuries and was heightened during the 13th century. The nave, aisles, chancel and transepts were constructed between the late 14th and mid 15th centuries. The east end of the church was used by the College of the Holy Cross from about 1400 until its dissolution in 1540. The vaulted rood screen with paintings of saints is medieval and there is a painting in the nave from around 1500. An excavation in the south transept recorded Roman building material and medieval foundations.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:	TM 0488 9539
Map Sheet:	TM09NW
Parish:	ATTLEBOROUGH, BRECKLAND, NORFOLK

Full description

Pre 1864.
Medieval figurine from churchyard.

1983.
Observations of foundations of chancel, etc. (S12)

November 1992.
Large church, formerly collegiate, part demolished at Reformation.
Alleged Late Saxon origins. Present fabric basically Norman extended in 13th century, nave and aisle remodelled and rebuilt about 1380 with 15th to 16th century additions.
Furnishings include exceptionally important medieval rood screen; unusual coffin slab and other memorials; wallpaintings. Possible air raid shelter in churchyard.
See report (S1), photographs (S2) and press cutting (S3) in file.
E. Rose (NLA) 18 November 1992.

February 2001. Excavation.
In the south transept, recovered Roman tile and brick, and recorded 11 or 12th century foundation trenches and two burials.
See report (S4) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S11).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2009.210).
D. Gurney (NLA) 8 March 2001. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 5 May 2019.

See (S5).
E. Rose (NLA) 27 September 2004.

2003-2004. Building Survey and Dendrochronological Survey.
Analysis of bell frame.
Tree-ring dating of bell frame produced dates of AD 1520 to 1535 for main body of frame. Foundation beams, previously suggested to be 13th century, could not be dated. Carved date of 1736 does not refer to frame so may be the date of the insertion of the foundation beams.
See report (S8) for further information on tree-ring analysis and report (S13) for a detailed historic analysis of the bell frame.
This work was undertaken as part of a wider English Heritage research project aimed at developing standard procedures for recording and analysing historic bell frames.
E. Rose (NLA) 12 November 2004.

September 2005.
The east end of the church was used by the College of the Holy Cross from about 1400 until its dissolution in 1540.
Vestry added in 1950.
See (S1).
D. Robertson (NLA) 29 September 2005.

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

February 2010.
Attleborough Heritage Group have recorded all of the gravestones in the churchyard.
See (S10) for further details,
H. White, (NLA), 25 February 2010

Monument Types

INHUMATION (Unknown date)
CHURCH (Late Saxon - 851 AD to 1065 AD)
CHURCH (Late Saxon - 851 AD to 1065 AD)
CHANTRY COLLEGE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
CHURCH (Medieval to 21st Century - 1066 AD to 2100 AD)
INHUMATION (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
WALL (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
INHUMATION (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)
AIR RAID SHELTER (World War Two - 1939 AD to 1945 AD)

Associated Finds

NAIL (Unknown date)
BRICK (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
TILE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
COFFIN (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
DOOR (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
FIGURINE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
FONT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
FONT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
PISCINA (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
ROOD SCREEN (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
WALL PAINTING (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
WALL PAINTING (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
WINDOW (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
WINDOW (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
WINDOW (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
Xaxial tower (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
WINDOW (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Protected Status

Listed Building

Sources and further reading

---	Aerial Photograph: TM0495 N-Q,R,S-AD,AE-AG.
---	Illustration: Various. Various. Architectural plans.
---	Map: Bryant. 1826. Bryant's Map of Norfolk.
---	Record Card: Ordnance Survey Staff. 1933-1979?. Ordnance Survey Record Cards. TM 09 NW 19.
---	Record Card: NAU Staff. 1974-1988. Norfolk Archaeological Index Primary Record Card.
---	Newspaper Article: 1993. Eastern Daily Press. 29 September.
---	Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1997. Repairs trust is launched. 10 April.
---	Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 2010. Trading place with a good name for food. 2 February.
---	Monograph: Pevsner, N and Wilson, W. 1999. Norfolk 2: North-West and South. The Buildings of England. 2nd Edition. pp 185-187; Pl 46.
---	Monograph: Pevsner, N. 1962. North-West and South Norfolk. The Buildings of England. 1st Edition. pp 78-79; Pl 14a, Pl 31a.
---	Leaflet: St Mary's Parish Church and College of the Holy Cross, Attleborough, Norfolk..
---	Monograph: Hart, S.. 2010. Medieval Church Window Tracery in England. pp 63, 74, 100, 111, 131.
---	Article in Serial: Fawcett, F. 1980. Attleborough Church. The Archaeological Journal. Vol 137 pp 351-352.
---	Record Card: Clarke, R. R. and NCM Staff. 1933-1973. Norwich Castle Museum Record Card - Medieval. Attleborough.
---	Secondary File: Secondary File.
---	Slide: Various. Slide.
---	Collection: Norfolk Historic Environment Record Staff. 1975-[2000]. HER Record Notes. Norfolk Historic Environment Service.
<S1>	Unpublished Document: Rose, E. (NLA). 1992. Building Report.. Building Report.
<S2>	Photograph: Rose, E.. 1992. St Mary's Church, Attleborough.
<S3>	Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1992-1993. [Articles on the finding and reburial of 15 graves from St Mary's Church, Attleborough].
<S4>	Unpublished Contractor Report: Moss, N. 2001. Report on an Archaeological Excavation at St Mary's Church, Attleborough. Norfolk Archaeological Unit. 577.
<S5>	Publication: Jeffery, P.. 2004. The Collegiate Churches of England and Wales.. p 231.
<S6>	Unpublished Document: Rose, E.. 2004. Addition to church report.
<S7>	Unpublished Document: Cattermole, P.. 2004. Inventory of church bells and bell-frames in Norfolk: Shropham Hundred.
<S8>	Monograph: Bridge, M. 2004. Tree-ring Analysis of Timbers from the Bellframe, Church of St Mary, Church Street, Attleborough, Norfolk. English Heritage Centre for Archaeology Report. 5/2004.
<S9>	Publication: Jenkins, S. 2000. England's Thousand Best Churches.
<S10>	Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 2010. Graves project landmark. 4 February.
<S11>	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.
<S12>	Illustration: Unknown. 1983. Sketch plan of the foundations of chancel.. Film. 1:100.
<S13>	Unpublished Contractor Report: Bond, R. and Ellis, R. 2004. The Bell Frame at St Mary's Church, Attleborough, Norfolk: an historical analysis. English Heritage Historical Analysis & Research Team. Reports and Papers B/014/2004.