St. Mary's Church, Cranwich, Norfolk
N 52° 31.350 E 000° 37.578
31U E 338960 N 5821802
A charming thatched round-towered church dating from between 700AD and 1000AD.
Waymark Code: WMJYGP
Location: Eastern England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/17/2014
Views: 3
The following text is taken from a leaflet that can be purchased from the church for the grand sum of 10p. The church is kept open during the day.
Cranwich church stands on a small knoll of land about half a mile from the River Wissey. The graveyard is circular, a feature not unknown elsewhere though it is rare.
The tower is almost totally pre 1066, only the battlements being of a later date. It was probably originally roofed with a cone of thatch, small stone slates or timber shingles. The tower tapers slightly towards the top and may well have been built in two stages as the upper windows with the beautiful knot design look rather later than the small circular west window in the base of the tower. The base of the tower may be as early as 700AD, the top as late as 100AD. The tower arch is now blocked but can still be seen through the door at the west end of the nave.
The nave may be contemporary with the tower, though there are earlier features. The south door, with its semi-circular head, dog tooth ornament and chamfer probably dates to about 1200AD. With the exception of one single light windows, the windows in the nave are perpendicular, probably between 1350-1400. The single light window is perhaps a hundred years older. The pilaster against the north wall of the nave is the last remnant of a chancel arch. The chancel is almost entirely original work of circa 1300. The east window tracery is likely to date from the early nineteenth century. The buttresses on the cancel are nineteenth century additions, though those on the nave may be mediaeval.
The blocked north door is late thirteenth century and remains of the timber mediaeval door can still be seen on the outside. The south porch is probably fourteenth century although it may have been altered later.
Building Materials: Stone
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