Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Location

Full description

Ornate Decorated and Perpendicular church. Transepts ruinous. Font. Carved stalls with misericords 16th century. Pulpit 1611. Benches. Terracotta panels from house in town, stained glass. 15th to 16th century brasses.
Information from (S1).
(S2) noted north transept and north porch in ruins, also a west porch, south porch with coats of arms ((S3) says De Vaux from about 1390) around entrance, and a 'fair' stone coffin.
John de Ramsey I, builder of Norwich Carnary Chapel, is credited with early 14th century reconstruction.
Information from member of the public [1].
E. Rose (NAU), 6 January 1986.

October 1960. Listed, Grade I.
14th- and 15th-century church. Flint with stone dressings. Grey corrugated tiles. Northwest tower, nave, north and south aisles, chancel. 14th century clerestorey.
Inside: nave roof about 1970, aisles roofs 15th century. 17th-century altar. 15th-century font. Twenty-four 15th-century bench ends. Fragments of stained glass in south aisle date to about 1460.
Information from (S4).
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S4) for the full, current listing details.
D. Robertson (NLA), 26 October 2005.

A late 17th-century altar tomb memorial approximately 20m to the south of the church was listed Grade II in September 1987. This is now recorded separately as NHER 67143.
P. Watkins (HES), 4 July 2023.

See (S5) for mention of graffiti of sailing ships including a rudder detail.
E. Rose (NAU), 7 June 1988.

P. Millington-Wallace (NAU) notes a black and white tiled floor replaced by pamments at some date between 1980 and 1994.

(S6) reproduces map of 1586 which shows a spire on the church.
E. Rose (NLA), 7 November 1997.

Photograph (S7) and press cutting (S8) in file.

Altar stone in chancel floor beneath main altar table, and another broken in two beneath north aisle altar.
E. Rose (NLA), 30 August 2003.

November 2003.
Diocesan Advisory Committee recommended granting of consent to saw the bottom off a 17th century door.
E. Rose (NLA), 2 December 2003.

There is said to be a sheela na gig carving on the church.
Information from member of the public [3].
E. Rose (NLA), 13 February 2004.

(S9) notes in the church an early 20th century model of a two masted topsail schooner which has been there since at least 1920. It was said locally to be a model of a ship wrecked off the coast here.
E. Rose (NLA), 6 November 2004.

September 2004.
It is rumoured that statues of the 12 stone apostles and Jesus Christ were stripped from the church and thrown into Cley harbour during the Reformation. A geophysical survey of the harbour is due to be undertaken to try and locate the missing statues.
See (S10) for further details

This is one of the sixty-five Norfolk churches selected for (S11).
D. Gurney (NLA), 17 February 2006.

See NHER 6

Monument Types

• CHURCH (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• CHURCH (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• FONT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• CHURCH (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Associated Finds

• ARCHITECTURAL FRAGMENT (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• WINDOW (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• INSCRIBED OBJECT (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1900 AD)

Protected Status

• Listed Building

Sources and further reading

Related records

Find out more...

• Cley-next-the-Sea, St Margaret's Church - David Jones (Archaeology and Art)
• How to investigate a church (How to)
• Parish Summary: Cley next the Sea (Parish Summary)