Benchmark, St Mary - Gissing, Norfolk
Posted by: 
SMacB
N 52° 25.421 E 001° 09.297
31U E 374541 N 5809764
Cut benchmark on buttress of St Mary's church, Gissing, north angle of south face.
Waymark Code: WMN63W
Location: Eastern England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/02/2015
Views: 3
Cut benchmark on buttress of St Mary's church, Gissing, north angle of south face.
"A reminder that round-towered churches can be stately and imposing as well; this wide church with its chancel chapels sprawls comfortably in the centre of the village, lifting a tower that is almost wholly Norman in character. It is one of the best if its period in Norfolk.
The church, too, speaks more of the conquest than any other period, although there is an ornate two-storey 15th century north porch with image niches and roses in the spandrils. Inside, it hides the original Norman door, which despite being sheltered for half a millennium is more weathered than the exposed contemporary doorway on the south side. The crisply-flinted chancel chapel on this side appears to be a rebuild, or possibly even a Victorian invention, but that on the south side is rendered and older.
The north chancel chapel is the Kemp family mausoleum, and their memorials line the walls. Some are very grand, particularly in comparison with one of the starkest, simplest sanctuaries in Norfolk. A low, curved arch into the chapel is probably 18th century, and the contemporary screen below it is a curiosity."
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