Record Details

NHER Number:6916
Type of record:Building
Name:All Saints' Church, Edingthorpe, Bacton

Summary

An isolated church, north of Edingthorpe village and standing on a low hill surrounded by trees, this building consists of a round west tower, nave, chancel and south porch; construction is of flint and brick with freestone dressing. The nave is thatched, the chancel pantiled. The earliest parts of the church are the north and west walls of the nave, which are probably late Saxon or early Norman in date. The west tower is 12th or 13th century, with a 14th century octagonal belfry. The chancel and most of the remainder of the church is 14th century with later alterations. Inside, there are a good number of medieval survivals. The 12th century door to the now blocked north door hangs on the west nave wall behind the decorated 14th century font. The rood screen is also 14th century, and the south door earlier than that. There are rare 14th century paintings on the north nave wall. The church has remained largely unchanged, a fact noted with approval by the Great War poet Siegfried Sassoon, who spent childhood holidays in Edinthorpe, and visited again in the 1930s.

Images - none

Location

Grid Reference:TG 3233 3315
Map Sheet:TG33SW
Parish:BACTON, NORTH NORFOLK, NORFOLK

Full description

April 1955. Grade I Listed.
Parish church with 12th century west tower and a 12th century nave, remodelled in the 14th century, and a 14th century chancel, remodelled 19th century. The church is constructed of flint with ashlar dressings, and has a thatched nave roof, with pantiles to chancel. There is a 3 stage circular tower and a late 14th century octagonal belfry stage (bequest to tower 1375). The interior contains a 14th century octagonal font with panelled stem in form of 2 tall trefoiled arches each face. The bowl is decorated by encircled quatrefoils. The nave north wall was painted c.1400 and depicts St. Christopher to the west and the Seven Works of Mercy to the east, each scene depicted intertwined with branches of a tree (from Matthew 25.35). There is a panelled reading desk dated 1587, a panelled pulpit dated 1632 with scrolled brackets rising from octagonal stem, a 19th century King post chancel roof and 11 16th century poppyhead bench ends remain.
Information taken from listing.
H. White (NLA), 12 November 2009.

8 December 1989. Visit.
Round tower perhaps 13th century, perhaps recoated in Perpendicular period with new belfry.
12th century doorway and fabric. 14th-15th century details. 14th century rood screen. Good memorials and medieval coffin slabs including one dug up in graveyard 1989.
(S1) and (S2) in file. (S3).
E. Rose (NAU) 8 December 1989.

1994. Field Observation.
Tower examined during repairs.
The ground floor west window embrasure shows that the round tower is of two builds, with an outer skin added, possibly when the perpendicular belfry was added. The tower contains medieval brickwork and is unlikely to predate the 13th century.
Information from (S10).
P. Watkins (HES), 13 March 2017.

December 1994. Building recording.
The 14th century wall paintings were examined to assess their conservation needs. There are three areas of medieval painting surviving on the north wall of the nave in fragmentary condition. The paintings have been dated to c. 1400 but it is possible that they are earlier as suggested by their strong relationship with the decorated windows themselves presumed to be of 14th century date.
See report (S5) for further details.
S. Howard (NLA), 28 January 2010.

1999. Visit.
Repair works to church revealed that the nave north and west walls are basically Late Saxon or early Norman with courses of conglomerate and a single splayed window blocked by the tower.
See further report in file.
E. Rose (NLA) 8 October 1999.

October 2009. Building recording.
Of particular note are the unusually shaped pew ends in the nave, which are low and cut to a flat baluster shape with ovolo-moulded edges. The north wall of the church contains the earliest masonry, dating from the early 12th century. The walls were heightened in the fourteenth century to accommodate new windows. The south nave windows have crosses of brick rising from the peak of the hood.
See (S4) for further details.
H. White (NLA), 12 November 2009.

July 2010. Dendrochronological Survey.
Five cores were taken from the rafters of the church but only one rafter contained a sufficient number of tree-rings for analysis and due to the lack of information about local chronologies it was not possible to date the roof using this technique. It is possible that in the future, as more information becomes available for a local chronologies, that it may be possible to date the construction of the roof.
See report (S6) for further details.
S. Howard (HES), 5 May 2011.

September 2010. Watching Brief.
The excavations recorded an extensive graveyard soil which is likely to have developed since the foundation of the church in the 12th century. The foundations of three buttresses to the church were revealed but it is not certain whether these were contemporary with the nave or later additions. Finds recovered from the site included unstratified sherds of pottery dating from the 12th to 13th century and 15th to 16th century found either side of the south porch.
See report (S7) for further details. The results of this work are also summarised in (S8).
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2010.219).
S. Howard (HES), 25 July 2011. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 11 May 2019.

May 2011. Newspaper Article.
The Lych Gate was built after World War One, in memory of the Rector's son, a lance-corporal who served with the 1st Battalion Norfolk regiment 9th Foot, and was killed in 1915.
See (S9) for further details.
D. Lefeuvre (HES), 22 August 2011.

Monument Types

  • CHURCH (Late Saxon to 21st Century - 851 AD to 2100 AD)

Associated Finds

  • COFFIN (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • DOOR (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • DOOR (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
  • DOOR (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)

Protected Status

  • Listed Building

Sources and further reading

---Article in Serial: Manning, C. R. 1855. Remarks on some churches in the neighbourhood of North Walsham. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol IV pp 296-309. p 301.
---Aerial Photograph: TG 3233F,G.
---Photograph: [unknown].
---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. p 455.
---Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 2009. Historic churches awarded millions of pounds for essential maintenance work. 4 March.
---Publication: An Illustrated Guide to the Parish Church of All Saints Church, Edingthorpe, Bacton.
---Unpublished Document: Reynolds Jury Architecture. 2009. English Heritage grant aid funded roof repairs, job no. 9005 - All Saints Church Edingthorpe, Bacton. 24 February.
---Secondary File: Secondary File.
---Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 1996. Village of 100 souls raises bumper harvest for church. 16 February.
<S1>Unpublished Document: Rose, E.. 1989. Building Report.. Building Report. 8/12/89.
<S2>Unpublished Document: Rose, E.. 1999. Building Report.. Building Report.
<S3>Designation: Historic England. National Heritage List for England.
<S4>Unpublished Document: Heywood, S. 2009. S. Heywood Report. Conservation based analysis of All Saints Church, Edingthorpe..
<S5>Unpublished Document: Cather, S. and Park, D.. 1994. The 14th Century wall paintings of All Saints, Edingthorpe, Norfolk..
<S6>Monograph: Bridge, M. 2011. Tree-ring analysis of nave roof timbers from the Church of All Saints', Edingthorpe, Norfolk. English Heritage Research Department Report Series. 32-2011.
<S7>Unpublished Contractor Report: Cope-Faulkner, P. 2010. Archaeological Monitoring and Recording at All Saints Church, Edingthorpe, Norfolk. Archaeological Project Services. 99/10.
<S8>Article in Serial: Gurney, D., Bown, J. and Hoggett, R. 2011. Excavations and Surveys in Norfolk in 2010. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XLVI Pt II pp 262-276. p 262.
<S9>Newspaper Article: Eastern Daily Press. 2011. Appeal for a most special poet's corner. 14 May.
<S10>Article in Serial: Gurney, D. (ed.). 1995. Excavations and Surveys in Norfolk 1994. Norfolk Archaeology. Vol XLII Pt II pp 230-239. p 231.

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