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 five bells in the tower hung for ringing in the English full circle style.
The following is a table extracted from Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers showing the weights in kg, the sounding notes of the bells, the founder and the year of casting.
Bell Weight Note Dated Founder
1 218.18 Eb 1758 Joseph Mallows
2 132.90 Db 1740 Thomas Newman
3 230.88 C 1909 John Taylor & Co.
4 244.49 Bb 1745 Thomas Newman
5 346.09 Ab 1925 John Taylor & Co.
The bells were overhauled in 2003 by Eayre & Smith.
In his book 'The Church Bells of Norfolk, 1874, John L'Estrange lists the bells and inscriptions as follows:-
1. Joseph Mallows Fecit 1758.
2. Thomas Newman made me Mr. John Wardale C.W. 1740.
3. John Draper made me 1620.
4. Francis Forster Tho. Wardale C.W. 1720. [By T. Newman].
5. John Draper made me 1620.
He also says that in '6th Edward VI there were three bells'. King Edward VI was the son of King Henry VIII, born 12.Oct.1537, crowned 28.Jan.1547 aged 10, died 6.July.1553 aged 16. 6th Edward VI is thus the year 1553.
Bells 1 and 2 were in the tower in 1874, bells 3 and 5 have been replaced, whilst bell 4 seems to have a conflict of casting date but not of the founder.
Thomas Newman cast bells in Cambridge between 1699 and 1745.
Joseph Mallows Casting bells in East Dereham between 1750 and 1761.
John Taylor & Co cast bells at the Loughborough foundry. John was the then founder in a long line of Taylors beginning with Robert in 1786, the foundry having been started by Joseph Eayre in 1735. The foundry is still working and from May 2017 will be the only bell foundry working in the UK, as the Whitechapel Bell Foundry is closing after over 250 years in Whitechapel.
Words variously from British Listed Buildings, Pevsner's Norfolk Buildings, John L'Estrange's The Church Bells of Norfolk, 1874, amended and added to with own on-site observations.
Co-ordinates are for the tower.