This small parish church is of an aisleless construction and has a C14th brick west tower, not common even in Norfolk, a Perpendicular nave of carstone and ragstone with ashlar dressings and a much later chancel, 1864, built of carstone, ashlar and brick, now Grade II* listed. The roofs are lead covered.
The three stage tower, externally undivided, is supported by stepped diagonal west buttresses. The west door is arched, wave-moulded below a triangular-headed statuary niche. The is a chamfered lancet to the south of what used to be the ringing chamber – ringing now takes place from the ground floor – and two-light ogee and cusped belfry windows to east and west and single light ogee-headed windows to north and south, all with timber louvres. The crenellated parapet has stone coping. There is a ring of six bells in the tower hung for ringing in the English full circle style.
The gabled C15th brick south porch has flanking side buttresses the front ones extending into flattened pinnacles. Subsidiary statuary niches within engaged pinnacles flank the arched doorway having a hood mould on weathered animal stops. There are two-light cusped side windows and an old sundial in the gable. The sundial is quite a simple affair, just an oblong piece of limestone with a rusty scrolled gnomon. The hour marks are difficult to see, a small indentation with a very short line running towards the gnomon fixing and no indication of an actual hour. I estimate that the marks are 15mins apart. The interior of the porch is barrel vaulted supported on four ogee moulded arched ribs and a double wave moulded inner doorway. The porch was restored in 1861.
The nave has stepped buttresses and a rebuilt parapet. The nave windows are of three-lights with different styles of C15th panel tracery below pointed segmental heads, two windows to the south and three to the north. In the chancel are two two-light transomed windows to the south, a three-light east window and one two-light north window, all with panel tracery. There is stained glass in the east window by Charles A.Gibbs showing the Adoration, Crucifixion and Ascension with lots of intertwining foliage, eight angels with various symbols complete the window above the rail. Beneath the images of Christ are texts; They saw the young child with Mary his mother; It is finished; And he lifted up his hands and blessed them. At the bottom of the window across the three lights are; Gloria in Excelsis Deo; Posuit George Grogan M.A. MDCCCLXIII; Huius Ecclesiae Curae Incumbens. Tr Glory to God in the Highest, placed in memory of George Grogan M.A., 1863, Curate of this Church.
In the next window south is stained glass depicting St.Margaret and St.Catharine placed here in 1906. The images have been described as Amazonian by Simon Knott in his web site 'Churches of East Anglia: Norfolk' but they are rather good. The dedication reads:- 'Dedicated to the Glory of God and in Memory of George and Mary Ann Tipple and of Henry and William their sons by Charles Tipple October 1906.' Above the rail are angels with musical instruments and a crown.
A gabled vestry abuts the north chancel wall and there are stepped buttresses between the windows and angle buttresses to the east end of the nave. The north doorway to this is the normal, but unexpected, way into the church. The upper chancel walls and parapet are of brick.
Interior.
The double-chamfered tower arch mouldings die into responds with the double chamfered chancel arch mouldings resting on corbels. The nave roof has chamfered principals dropping to wall posts on corbels, one tier of chamfered butt purlins and a ridge piece. There is an old tie beam at the east and the west, on the latter the date 1742. The chancel roof has plain principals, one tier of butt purlins and a ridge piece.
The pulpit is early C17th polygonal style with arcaded panels below a frieze of foliage patterns. On the south wall of the chancel a marble wall monument to the Forster family dated 1742 and signed J.Fellows of Lynn (John Fellows was active between 1714 and 1742): a shouldered inscription panel is flanked by fluted Ionic pilasters; coat of arms in the apron, a black marble obelisk on an entablature behind three urns.
The octagonal font of 1835 is on an octagonal stem with chamfers top and bottom, the faces incised with quatrefoils with roses at their centres. It has a modern timber cover with spherical topped handle.
Church services are held on the 1st and 3rd Sundays at 1045, and on the 2nd and 4th Sundays at 0900.
In the churchyard south-west of the church is a churchyard cross, very worn, a shortened octagonal shaft in a square socket stone. I understand that this is not the original position of this cross but it was moved here to mark a boundary.
Words variously from British Listed Buildings, Pevsner's Norfolk Buildings, amended and added to with own on-site observations.
Co-ordinates are for the south porch.