St Mary's Church, Moulton
Encyclopedia
St Mary's Church, Moulton, is a redundant
Anglican
round-tower church
near the village of Moulton St Mary
, Norfolk
, England. It has been designated by English Heritage
as a Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust
. It stands some 4 kilometres (2 mi) to the south of Acle
in an isolated position adjacent to a farm.
and chancel
from the 14th century. The south porch was added during the 16th century, and the east wall of the chancel was rebuilt during the 1870s.
and red brick, with limestone
dressings. The tower and nave are tiled, and the chancel and porch are slate
d. Its plan consists of a nave with a south porch, a chancel, and a west tower. The tower is in Norman
style, the nave and most of the chancel are Gothic
, the porch is Tudor
, and the east wall of the chancel is in Georgian
style. The tower is round with a conical roof. It has a slit window high on the south side, on the north side is a louvred
bell opening, and on the west side is a blocked two-light Decorated window. The porch has a sundial
in the southwest corner, a niche
over the doorway, and blocked three-light windows on each side. The south wall of the nave is divided into three bays
by stepped buttress
es. In the middle bay is a three-light window with Perpendicular tracery
. In each of the two lateral bays is a two-light window with Y-tracery. The south wall of the chancel contains two two-light windows and a priest's door. The chancel roof is at a lower level than that of the nave; the east gable
of the nave is hung with slates. The east wall of the chancel is brick and contains a three-light window. At the northeast corner of the chancel is a stone and flint buttress. In the north wall of the chancel, and in the eastern bay of the nave, are wide single lancet window
s. The other bays of the north wall of the nave contain two- and three-light windows, and a doorway.
and a sedilia
. The benches in the chancel date from the 17th century and are carved with poppyheads
. The communion rail dates from the same period and is carried on turned
baluster
s and posts. At the southeast corner of the nave are the remains of a former stairway that led to a rood loft
. On the wall of the nave are 14th-century wall paintings in relatively good condition. Those on the north wall depict Saint Christopher
, and on the south wall are paintings representing the Seven Acts of Mercy
. The nave also contains a wall monument to Edmund Anguish who died in 1616. The octagonal pulpit
dates from the early 17th century; it is finely carved, and has a backboard and a tester
. The font
is also octagonal, each face is carved with a pair of blind arches; it dates from the 13th century, and is carried on a central stem and eight shafts.
s of the church's parish
are listed by Francis Blomefield
and Charles Parkin
in their An essay towards a topographical history of the county of Norfolk
s, rather than rectors, the rectory having been appropriated by the Dean
of St Mary's College, Norwich, which had owned the benefice
since about 1361. The following vicars are listed by Blomefield and Parkin.
Redundant church
A redundant church is a church building that is no longer required for regular public worship. The phrase is particularly used to refer to former Anglican buildings in the United Kingdom, but may refer to any disused church building around the world...
Anglican
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...
round-tower church
Round-tower church
Round-tower churches are a type of church found mainly in England, almost solely in East Anglia; of about 185 surviving examples in the country, 124 are in Norfolk, 38 in Suffolk, 6 in Essex, 3 in Sussex and 2 each in Cambridgeshire and Berkshire. There is evidence of about twenty round-tower...
near the village of Moulton St Mary
Moulton St Mary
Moulton St Mary is a small village in the county of Norfolk, England, about two miles south of Acle. The village has a garden centre and a car garage....
, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, England. It has been designated by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
as a Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust
Churches Conservation Trust
The Churches Conservation Trust, which was initially known as the Redundant Churches Fund, is a charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk, those that have been made redundant by the Church of England. The Trust was established by the Pastoral Measure of 1968...
. It stands some 4 kilometres (2 mi) to the south of Acle
Acle
Acle is a small market town on the River Bure on The Norfolk Broads in Norfolk, located halfway between Norwich and Great Yarmouth. It has the only bridge across the River Bure between Wroxham and Great Yarmouth. There is a high school Acle is a small market town on the River Bure on The Norfolk...
in an isolated position adjacent to a farm.
History
The tower dates from the 12th century, and the naveNave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
and chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
from the 14th century. The south porch was added during the 16th century, and the east wall of the chancel was rebuilt during the 1870s.
Exterior
St Mary's is constructed in flintFlint
Flint is a hard, sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as a variety of chert. It occurs chiefly as nodules and masses in sedimentary rocks, such as chalks and limestones. Inside the nodule, flint is usually dark grey, black, green, white, or brown in colour, and...
and red brick, with limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
dressings. The tower and nave are tiled, and the chancel and porch are slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
d. Its plan consists of a nave with a south porch, a chancel, and a west tower. The tower is in Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
style, the nave and most of the chancel are Gothic
English Gothic architecture
English Gothic is the name of the architectural style that flourished in England from about 1180 until about 1520.-Introduction:As with the Gothic architecture of other parts of Europe, English Gothic is defined by its pointed arches, vaulted roofs, buttresses, large windows, and spires...
, the porch is Tudor
Tudor architecture
The Tudor architectural style is the final development of medieval architecture during the Tudor period and even beyond, for conservative college patrons...
, and the east wall of the chancel is in Georgian
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
style. The tower is round with a conical roof. It has a slit window high on the south side, on the north side is a louvred
Louver
A louver or louvre , from the French l'ouvert; "the open one") is a window, blind or shutter with horizontal slats that are angled to admit light and air, but to keep out rain, direct sunshine, and noise...
bell opening, and on the west side is a blocked two-light Decorated window. The porch has a sundial
Sundial
A sundial is a device that measures time by the position of the Sun. In common designs such as the horizontal sundial, the sun casts a shadow from its style onto a surface marked with lines indicating the hours of the day. The style is the time-telling edge of the gnomon, often a thin rod or a...
in the southwest corner, a niche
Niche (architecture)
A niche in classical architecture is an exedra or an apse that has been reduced in size, retaining the half-dome heading usual for an apse. Nero's Domus Aurea was the first semi-private dwelling that possessed rooms that were given richly varied floor plans, shaped with niches and exedras;...
over the doorway, and blocked three-light windows on each side. The south wall of the nave is divided into three bays
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
by stepped buttress
Buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall...
es. In the middle bay is a three-light window with Perpendicular tracery
Tracery
In architecture, Tracery is the stonework elements that support the glass in a Gothic window. The term probably derives from the 'tracing floors' on which the complex patterns of late Gothic windows were laid out.-Plate tracery:...
. In each of the two lateral bays is a two-light window with Y-tracery. The south wall of the chancel contains two two-light windows and a priest's door. The chancel roof is at a lower level than that of the nave; the east gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
of the nave is hung with slates. The east wall of the chancel is brick and contains a three-light window. At the northeast corner of the chancel is a stone and flint buttress. In the north wall of the chancel, and in the eastern bay of the nave, are wide single lancet window
Lancet window
A lancet window is a tall narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural motif are most often found in Gothic and ecclesiastical structures, where they are often placed singly or in pairs.The motif first...
s. The other bays of the north wall of the nave contain two- and three-light windows, and a doorway.
Interior
In the south wall of the chancel is a double piscinaPiscina
A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. Roman Catholics usually refer to the drain, and by extension, the basin, as the sacrarium...
and a sedilia
Sedilia
Sedilia , in ecclesiastical architecture, is the term used to describe stone seats, usually to be found on the south side of an altar, often in the chancel, for the use of the officiating priests...
. The benches in the chancel date from the 17th century and are carved with poppyheads
Poppyhead (carving)
Poppyhead is a form of carving of the end of a bench or a choir stall. The carving consists of leaves and flowers, which are usually in the form of a fleur-de-lys....
. The communion rail dates from the same period and is carried on turned
Turning
Turning is the process whereby a single point cutting tool is parallel to the surface. It can be done manually, in a traditional form of lathe, which frequently requires continuous supervision by the operator, or by using a computer controlled and automated lathe which does not. This type of...
baluster
Baluster
A baluster is a moulded shaft, square or of lathe-turned form, one of various forms of spindle in woodwork, made of stone or wood and sometimes of metal, standing on a unifying footing, and supporting the coping of a parapet or the handrail of a staircase. Multiplied in this way, they form a...
s and posts. At the southeast corner of the nave are the remains of a former stairway that led to a rood loft
Rood screen
The rood screen is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, or wrought iron...
. On the wall of the nave are 14th-century wall paintings in relatively good condition. Those on the north wall depict Saint Christopher
Saint Christopher
.Saint Christopher is a saint venerated by Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians, listed as a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd century Roman Emperor Decius or alternatively under the Roman Emperor Maximinus II Dacian...
, and on the south wall are paintings representing the Seven Acts of Mercy
Works of Mercy
The Works of Mercy or Acts of Mercy are actions and practices which Christianity in general, and the Methodist Church, Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church in particular, consider expectations to be fulfilled by believers, and are a means of grace, which aid in sanctification.The...
. The nave also contains a wall monument to Edmund Anguish who died in 1616. The octagonal pulpit
Pulpit
Pulpit is a speakers' stand in a church. In many Christian churches, there are two speakers' stands at the front of the church. Typically, the one on the left is called the pulpit...
dates from the early 17th century; it is finely carved, and has a backboard and a tester
Sounding board
A sound board, or soundboard, is the surface of a string instrument that the strings vibrate against, usually via some sort of bridge. The resonant properties of the sound board and the interior of the instrument greatly increase loudness over the string alone.The sound board operates by the...
. The font
Baptismal font
A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...
is also octagonal, each face is carved with a pair of blind arches; it dates from the 13th century, and is carried on a central stem and eight shafts.
List of rectors
The following rectorRector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
s of the church's parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
are listed by Francis Blomefield
Francis Blomefield
Francis Blomefield was an English antiquary, who projected a county history of Norfolk. During his lifetime, he compiled and published detailed accounts of the city of Norwich, Borough of Thetford and the southern hundreds of the county, but died before the whole work could be completed.-Biography...
and Charles Parkin
Charles Parkin
-Life:The son of William Parkin of London, he was born on 11 January 1689, and educated at Merchant Taylors' School. He went in 1708 to Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. 1711, M.A. 1717...
in their An essay towards a topographical history of the county of Norfolk
- 1320: Robert Rowland
- 1325: Ralph de Hakeford
- 1350: Roger de Mondegone
- 1350: Robert de Norton
- 1352: John de Bestharp
- 1361: Adam de Foxler
- 1383: John Wayte
- 1383: John Harvey
- 1383: John Boteler
List of vicars
From 1403, parish priests were appointed as vicarVicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
s, rather than rectors, the rectory having been appropriated by the Dean
Dean (education)
In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...
of St Mary's College, Norwich, which had owned the benefice
Benefice
A benefice is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The term is now almost obsolete.-Church of England:...
since about 1361. The following vicars are listed by Blomefield and Parkin.
- 1403: John Virley
- 1403: John Bawdre
- 1403: John Scoole
- 1420: Thomas Petit
- 1422: John Man
- 1427: William Snelling
- 1427: William Taylor
- 1429: Clement Welle
- 1434: Thomas Alfred
- 1448: Thomas Hanworth
- 1453: John Domlyn
- 1461: John Norwich
- 1461: John Ramton
- 1495: John Rudham
- 1502: Richard Thompson
- 1505: John Frampton
- 1507: Robert Barker
- 1511: Richard SampsonRichard SampsonRichard Sampson was an English clergyman and composer of sacred music, who was Anglican bishop of Chichester and subsequently of Coventry and Lichfield.-Biography:...
(later Bishop of ChichesterBishop of ChichesterThe Bishop of Chichester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the Counties of East and West Sussex. The see is in the City of Chichester where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity...
and of Lichfield and CoventryBishop of LichfieldThe Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 4,516 km² of the counties of Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West Midlands. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed...
) - 1512: John Rogers
- 1541: John Younge
- 1541: John Ludbury
- 1560: Robert Mourton
- 1574: Roger Beweller
- 1617: Robert Pepys
- 1658: Thomas Essex
- 1668: William Brook
- 1672: Thomas Wilson
- 1699: John Sallet
- 1711: John Pitts
- 1723: Horace Fawcett
- 1726: Thomas Carter
- 1737: Roger Geddings