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OK - here's Norfolk Church No.2
The History:
St Edmund is just to the west of the main Fakenham to Wells road, not far from North Barsham. It isn’t far from the road and it was only a short walk across a field uphill to the ruin which is situated on private land on the Holkham Estate. The remains are made up of the bottom two thirds of the early 14th century tower (possibly circa 1330s). At the west end there are enough remains of the nave to hint that this is a Norman church, but other facts point to it being of Saxon origin. The dedication to St Edmund, a king of East Anglia killed by the Mercians and Egmere's hilltop position back this up. There are signs of two different roof pitches for the nave. The earlier one could be the from the original Saxon building that the tower was built against and the later pitch from when the nave was renewed/heightened maybe in the relative prosperity of the 1450s. The village of Egmere was a sizeable settlement until the 15th Century. In 1334 a Lay Subsidy showed 31 tax payers. Many English villages were hit hard by the Black Death in 1348 and by 1538 Egmere had just five taxpayers.
The near by Walsingham Priory were the patrons of the church from 1423 but when the Priory was dissolved in1538 by King Henry VIII Egmere as a village would have had little hope for long-term survival. The parish lands were sold off to Sir Nicholas Bacon and in 1602 he was allowing the church to be used as a barn and the graveyard used grazing for his sheep. One reason the church remains were left standing may be down to the fact that it was not near enough to a town to make the re-use of the church’s stones elsewhere economically viable.
The Explore:
Easy to locate, I parked up and hopped over the fence. It was a quick walk up to the tower for a very relaxed explore on a beautiful day. The only company I had were the surrounding sheep who were grazing away and mildly curious at my presence.
Here are the pix. Here’s the church up on the hill:
img7360 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img7381 by HughieDW, on Flickr
And here’s the welcoming party:
img7378 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The two nave pitches are clearly visible here:
img7363 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img7364 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img7379 by HughieDW, on Flickr
This looks interesting:
img7366 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The tower is now just a shell:
img7371 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img7372 by HughieDW, on Flickr
A lovely spiral staircase:
img7373 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Which takes you up here:
img7376 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Think I’ll enjoy the view from down here:
img7377 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Thanks for looking!
The History:
St Edmund is just to the west of the main Fakenham to Wells road, not far from North Barsham. It isn’t far from the road and it was only a short walk across a field uphill to the ruin which is situated on private land on the Holkham Estate. The remains are made up of the bottom two thirds of the early 14th century tower (possibly circa 1330s). At the west end there are enough remains of the nave to hint that this is a Norman church, but other facts point to it being of Saxon origin. The dedication to St Edmund, a king of East Anglia killed by the Mercians and Egmere's hilltop position back this up. There are signs of two different roof pitches for the nave. The earlier one could be the from the original Saxon building that the tower was built against and the later pitch from when the nave was renewed/heightened maybe in the relative prosperity of the 1450s. The village of Egmere was a sizeable settlement until the 15th Century. In 1334 a Lay Subsidy showed 31 tax payers. Many English villages were hit hard by the Black Death in 1348 and by 1538 Egmere had just five taxpayers.
The near by Walsingham Priory were the patrons of the church from 1423 but when the Priory was dissolved in1538 by King Henry VIII Egmere as a village would have had little hope for long-term survival. The parish lands were sold off to Sir Nicholas Bacon and in 1602 he was allowing the church to be used as a barn and the graveyard used grazing for his sheep. One reason the church remains were left standing may be down to the fact that it was not near enough to a town to make the re-use of the church’s stones elsewhere economically viable.
The Explore:
Easy to locate, I parked up and hopped over the fence. It was a quick walk up to the tower for a very relaxed explore on a beautiful day. The only company I had were the surrounding sheep who were grazing away and mildly curious at my presence.
Here are the pix. Here’s the church up on the hill:
img7360 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg7381 by HughieDW, on FlickrAnd here’s the welcoming party:
img7378 by HughieDW, on FlickrThe two nave pitches are clearly visible here:
img7363 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg7364 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg7379 by HughieDW, on FlickrThis looks interesting:
img7366 by HughieDW, on FlickrThe tower is now just a shell:
img7371 by HughieDW, on Flickrimg7372 by HughieDW, on FlickrA lovely spiral staircase:
img7373 by HughieDW, on FlickrWhich takes you up here:
img7376 by HughieDW, on FlickrThink I’ll enjoy the view from down here:
img7377 by HughieDW, on FlickrThanks for looking!
