"The Church was built 1294
Dedications to The Head of St John the Baptist are very rare, and could be unique. Trimingham Parish Church is the only church in England dedicated to the head of St John the Baptist
Why the Name?
It was believed that the head of the Baptist had been brought from the Fortress of Machaerus, beyond Judea, where St John was beheaded, and pilgrims in medieval times, inspired by this belief, once made their way to Trimingham. The Village Hall is accordingly called The Pilgrim Shelter.
A will made shortly before the Reformation mentioned the head of the Baptist at Trimingham Church. But such entries are not unusual in such wills, and they refer only to the many representations of the Baptist’s head in alabaster, manufactured in Nottingham and Burton-on-Trent. Such a representation can be seen at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The real head is at Amiens Cathedral.
You will find a wooden carved representation of the head within the rood screen halfway down the church.
East Window
On August 10th 1920, at a service held in Trimingham Church, a stained glass window was unveiled by the Rev R Aubrey Aitken, vicar of North Walsham. This window, the parish war memorial, was designed by Mr Horace Wilkinson. The colouring is rich and beautiful. Christ in Glory is depicted in the centre; on either side stand the Archangels, Michael and Gabriel, representing war and peace. Around are heavenly beings, and above broods the Holy Dove.
Wooden Carvings
The Revd Reginald Page, Rector of Trimingham from 1901 to 1923 devoted much of his spare time to wood carving, much of which can be seen within the church.
The Carvings
The First World War Memorial, on the north wall
The Second World War Memorial, commemorated within a modern version of the Parable of the Good Samaritan
A scene in Corfu where Revd Page had been acting Chaplain. Individuals are seen offering gifts to Jesus in the market place
The pulpit. This shows Jesus preaching to shepherds, women, children and priests, and includes carvings of five loaves and two fishes, a ship on Lake Galilee, and Jesus teaching on The Sower and in the Sermon on the Mount on anxiety:
“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew chapter 6, verse 26)
The prayer desk, where the leader of the service sits. The two front panels illustrate the parable of the Lost Sheep. A bench-end depicts Jesus’ baptism. Its reverse shows the legend of St George slaying the dragon. The design of the opposite bench end includes rose, thistle and shamrock.
The reredos behind the altar. This depicts the supper at Emmaus when two disciples recognise the risen Christ as he broke bread.
“Where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew chapter 18, verse 20)
The Rood Screen
During the reign of Henry VII the church, like so many others in the second half of the fifteenth century, had a Rood Screen which depicts Jesus on the cross with the Blessed Virgin Mary and St John the Apostle on either side. It separates the chancel from the nave.
The screen was approached by a stairway (now blocked up) in the north wall. From the top of the screen the blessing would have been given from here by the priest on special occasions.
For many years the Screen was “mislaid” but was discovered by Archdeacon Crosse in 1865 in the barn of a farm. In 1891 part of the Screen was presented to Norwich Castle Museum and displayed at the Museum Church of St Peter, Hungate, but was eventually restored to its rightful place at Trimingham. The Screen panels have been scored and mutilated by; it is believed Puritan Vandals as well as death watch beetle activity.
From North (seaward) to South, the panels represent:
1. St Edmund, King and Martyr, who like St Sebastian, was shot to death with arrows. He carries an arrow in his right hand and a sceptre in his left.
2. St Clare, a follower of St Francis of Assisi, holding a Monstrance and a Bible Box
3. St Clement, Bishop and Martyr, giving his blessing and carrying his pastoral staff
4. St John the Baptist with, in the spandrel above, his head on a charger (dish)
5. St Petronella, a daughter of St Peter. In the spandrel is the sign of the Lamb and Flag
6. St Cecelia, Martyr, patron of church music, shown with a rose wreath on her head, A sprig of leaves, flowers and a book in her hand. A dragon lurks in the spandrel
7. St Barbara, Martyr, holding a pen and an axe
8. St Edmund, King and Martyr, with a falcon on his wrist
The identity of some of the figures depicted on the panel has been disputed. One authority claims the last three are St Dorothy, St Cecilia and St Jeron respectively, while others nominate St Edwards for the eight panel and James the Great as that on the fourth
Gravestones
Out of the many gravestones in the Churchyard is one that is very poignant, and it is the one commemorating the ten Dutch fishermen who had lost their lives when the trawler, De Vrouw Arendje, sank in a North Sea storm in October 1881. The overturned ship was washed up off Trimingham, and only seven bodies were found, “including that of the skipper with his arms around his two young sons”."
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