"Wymondham's church has a most unusual profile, with a large tower at either end.
It is evidence of a dispute between the monks of the abbey that once stood here and the townspeople, who had rights of access to parts of the building.
The two sides fell out to the extent that each had a tower, and each built its tower higher and higher to outdo the other. The octagonal tower was for the monks, while the great west tower was for the townspeople. The octagonal tower has a strange appearance. It was once at the centre of the church, but the entire east end was demolished at the Dissolution, leaving an open space beneath the tower."
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"The abbey church was built with stone specially imported from Caen in Normandy, and was originally modeled on Norwich Cathedral. This was a large cruciform building with two western towers and a larger central tower.
Though the priory was a Benedictine monastery, the founder insisted that the church also serve as the parish church for Wymondham. Unfortunately d'Aubigny did not spell out who should control what part of the building and how disputes should be resolved. Inevitable conflict arose between the townsfolk and the monks. The argument was referred to Pope Innocent IV in 1249, and the Pope rather wisely divided responsibility fairly equally, with the priory granted control of the south west tower, south aisle, transepts. eastern chapels, and quire. The townsfolk for their part were awarded the nave, north aisle, and north west tower.
The central tower had to be rebuilt in the mid-14th century, and in the process the monks sealed off part of the new tower, effectively blocking access between 'their' church and the parochial church. In a tit for tat war both sides sealed passages and seized control of tower access in turn. The townsfolk then carried the conflict further by seizing the Prior's Lodging and prevented him from saying Mass.
Henry IV asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to rule on the dispute, and the Archbisop came down on the side of the townsfolk and reaffirmed Innocent IV's division of the church. The townsfolk were allowed to hang three bells in the north west tower, but required not to ring them when it might disturb the monks. Then the townsfolk petitioned the king for permission to build a new, higher tower so they could hear the bells more clearly. Sir John Clifton of Wymondham threw his support behind the project and in 1445 the two short Norman towers were taken down and replaced by a new west tower.
In 1538 the abbey, like other monastic houses in England, was dissolved by Henry VIII. In an unusual move Henry kept control of the abbey lands for a decade following the dissolution. He appointed an agent named John Flowerdew to administer 'his' abbey. This Flowerdew behaved in a high-handed manner, allowing his men to destroy parts of the church which the townsfolk had raised money to purchase and preserve for their own use.
The ire raised by Flowerdew's actions helped galvanise support for the short-lived Kett Rebellion of 1549. The rebellion was led by Robert Kett, a Wymondham native, who objected to the enclosure of common land. Though it gained some support in East Anglia, Kett's Rebellion was doomed from the start. Kett was arrested and hanged at Norwich. His brother William was hanged from the west tower of the abbey church here at Wymondham."
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In time the former monastic buildings were pulled down and the stone sold for other building projects. Of the monastic buildings only a solitary arch of the chapter house at the east end of the church has survived, as well as the former monks tower.
The east tower is an empty shell, accessible from the outside at any time, near a high archway that once linked to the chapter house. As you look up inside the tower towards the sky far above you cannot help but be impressed with the stepped corbels that help give the tower its striking, layered look.
Recently (2015) during construction of new buildings at the east end of the church, while unblocking of the former opening from the 12th-century nave north aisle into the north transept, there has been revealed a substantial incised architectural design on the newly exposed respond (also forming the rear of the north-western 12th-century crossing pier).
"The significance of the discovery is threefold. First, the completeness of the design is remarkable—indeed, rather more complete than well-known examples such as those in the Galilee Porch at Ely Cathedral, the Roslin chapel crypt, and Christchurch Priory. Second, the design does not relate to surviving Gothic additions to Wymondham Abbey and, therefore, almost certainly relates to the monastic buildings or, much more probably, the eastern arm of the abbey church, demolished at the Dissolution: as such, it provides an important insight into the lost parts of the building. Third, and more tentatively, the combination of elements suggests a date before the end of the 13th century and raises the question as to whether—like its sister cell at Binham Priory with its precocious west front design of c.1240—Wymondham was at the forefront of bar tracery design in England in the mid-13th century."
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