Church clock - Church of St James the Great, Stocks Green, Castle Acre, Norfolk, PE32 2AA
Posted by: 
greysman
N 52° 42.139 E 000° 41.158
31U E 343649 N 5841668
The church of St James the Great stands in the middle of the village between the ruins of the Norman castle and those of Castle Acre Priory.
Waymark Code: WMVRJC
Location: Eastern England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 05/24/2017
Views: 0
The village of Castle Acre is a major tourist attraction in Norfolk. The church dedicated to St James the Great stands in the middle of the village between the ruins of the Norman castle, to the east, and those of Castle Acre Priory, to the west. This Grade I listed parish church is largely C14th and C15th but there are some details from c.1300. It was restored by Ewan Christian, architect (1814–95). Built of rubble flint with squared knapped flint and cut stone dressings, lead roofed aisles, with green slate nave and chancel roofs. It consists of a west tower, a five-bay nave with clerestorey, north and south aisles, a north porch, a three-bay chancel, and north vestry.
The Perpendicular four-stage west tower has two angle buttresses to each face. Mounted on a moulded stone plinth the angle buttresses has five off-sets, the sixth stage above become angle clasping buttresses with tracery panels. A battlemented tracery panelled parapet surrounds a flat roof. The Perpendicular moulded arch west door has a large two-stage four-light embattled transom window with traceried upper panels above it. The sounding chamber has two quatrefoil sound-hole openings to each face with the bell stage having four two-light Perpendicular windows. There is a single, small clock face on the east face in the fourth stage, and the north-east buttress contains a turret staircase, access to the upper stages of the tower. There is a complete Taylor ring of six bells in the tower.
The single clock face on the east face of the tower is placed to be seen from the town. It's in the fourth stage and is of hemi-spherical shape mounted inside a raised drip moulding. The face is painted blue, has three rings, the outer two have the hour and minute marks between them, the inner two have the Roman numerals, all painted gold colour. Also gold-coloured are the hands, curved to fit the shape of the face, both have counterbalance ends painted blue. There is a considerable amount of lichen on the face especially on the top half.
Words from British Listed Buildings, Simon Knott's Churches of East Anglia, and Pevsner's Norfolk 1 Buildings with amendments from own on site observations.
Coordinates are for the tower.