THE CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS

NECTON

Fig. 1 Tower from the south. 16 June 2009

Conservation Based Analysis of the Tower NHER : 4642 Stephen Heywood FSA Heritage & Landscape Norfolk County Council November 2009

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The Tower of All Saints, Necton

Introduction This account is to accompany the investigative stage of the English Heritage grant procedure concerning the repair of the cupola, the belfry floor and the buttresses of the west tower of the church of All Saints. The church is renowned for its magnificent hammer beam roof which was repaired and re-painted in 1838. Its tower has a cupola on a facetted open turret – a feature which is marked in the landscape and can be seen from miles around. This is one of the many works of restoration and embellishment undertaken during the middle years of the 19th century when under the patronage and involvement of the Mason family. The Documentary Evidence Not many years after the construction of the west tower wills of 1520 and 1525 left money towards the repair of the steeple1. We learn that in 1801-02 £600 was spent on the tower yet in 1855 the parish was directed under the chancery scheme to repair the tower. The Ladbrooke lithograph of the 1820s shows the tower with incomplete tracery in the bell openings and tie bar terminals (fig.2). Also the western angle buttresses are excessively deep and different from those on the east corners of the tower suggesting that they had been reinforced. This may have been the work of 1801-2.

Fig. 2. Robert Ladbrooke lithograph of c.1825

In 1862 a tower committee was formed and the architect Robert Kitton of Norwich was engaged to specify the work. The work was to rebuild the west side of the tower including the buttresses and to replace the bell chamber in its entirety. A loan was obtained and a contract drawn up with Mr Lacey of Norwich. The rebuilding of the tower was completed in 1865. The loan was finally paid off with a donation of £300 from Mrs Mason in 1875.

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In 1883 a strong gale brought down the west parapet of the tower and ‘shook the pinnacles and loosened much of the stone all around’. Mr Jefferies of Swaffham was asked to estimate the cost of repairs which he put at £50. An estimate from Messrs Cornish and Gaymer, both of recognised experience, was sought and they advised the complete rebuilding of the parapet because of its inherent weakness. In the event Mr Jefferies was engaged to repair the damage. He ‘lowered the pinnacles and repaired the damage’ without the use of a scaffold and for his original estimate2. The Tower The medieval tower was not entirely replaced. The east wall with its tower arch remains as do the north and south walls up to the stringcourse at the foot of the second floor (fig.3). The eastern buttresses have been altered to match the renewed western ones.

Fig. 3. Extent of medieval masonry on south elevation of tower.

Attached to the east wall of the tower on the interior there are a pair of joists marking the position of the original first floor level (Fig. 4). Alterations to the tower before the major restoration was the addition of the gallery in 1847 and this presumably includes the ringing floor which is at the same level (Fig. 5). Surviving from the medieval tower and re-used at the foot of the rebuilt stair turret is an impressive studded door (Fig. 6).

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Fig. 4. Two joists of the former first floor level

Fig. 5. East wall of tower with inserted gallery and ringing floor of 1847. 20th century glazed arch

Fig. 6. Stair door repaired and re-used

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The foundation stone can be seen on the south west buttress in a fairly elevated position bearing the name of the rector and patron W H Walker MA (rector from 1862 – 71) (fig. 7). The fabric of the 1863 - 5 rebuilding is of brick with flint facing and limestone ashlar dressings. The wall thickness is reduced to 900mm (3 ft) in relation to the wider flint wall of the medieval tower.

Fig. 7. Inscription REV.W. H. Walker. M.A. On south west buttress

The west elevation contains the principal doorway in the Perpendicular style emphasised with a frieze of traceried panels with shields and ogee – headed blind arcading. The large window above is of three lights with Perpendicular tracery. A clock face with a hood moulding is immediately above this. On the north and south sides this level has simple single light cusped windows. The four large bell openings are of each of three lights with Perpendicular tracery. The plinth of the tower continues the surviving medieval chequered flush work

Fig. 8. Plinth at south west.

1862 medieval

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(Fig. 8). The new buttresses have elegant cusped gables at the mid level of the bell chamber carrying on above to the foot of the parapet (fig. 1). The crenellated tower parapet is pierced all round in a complex pattern of stepped central merlons crowned with crosses, flanked with shields and narrow cusped lights (fig. 9). There are crocketted pinnacles at the corners and their slightly stunted appearance is probably the result of them having been lowered after the 1883 gale as stated in the records (fig.1).

Fig. 9. Tower west parapet

The lantern which emerges from the centre of tower is exceptional and an original design which has elements drawn from a typical Georgian spire as well as the more expected Gothic (fig. 10). It is a 2-storeyed octagon topped with a lead-covered ogee cupola. The eight posts of the lantern are supported on four large beams laid across each other forming the hash symbol - #. There are corresponding out lying posts with shaped leaded tops and copper flags swivel-mounted. These posts provide support for the now decayed external braces supporting the lantern posts. There are further, more effective internal braces just below the sloping roof. The external braces are surmounted with roll-moulded sections which sweep up to the top storey of the lantern. Several of these are missing or hanging loose. The openings in the lantern are filled in their upper sections with cast iron tracery. Grooves and rebates on the sides of the studs beneath the tracery panels suggest that iron work formed the complete frame of each opening. It tempts speculation on whether or not the openings might have been glazed or shuttered and that the lantern could have served as an enclosed belvedere. There is direct access to the interior space of the lantern via a trap door but the space would have been constricted. A fairly early repair consisting of inserting two beams into the lantern held rigid by cast iron brackets rendered access into the lantern virtually impossible Some tracery panels have zinc sheets attached perhaps in order to make the tracery stand out more (Fig. 12). The facetted cupola is of an elegant design surmounted with an ornate lead fleuron (fig. 11). At the foot of the dome are lead crockets at each corner. Some of which

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Fig. 10 the lantern from the south west

Fig. 11. cupola Fig. 12. top storey of lantern

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have been nailed back with lead strips suggesting that they may have lost their shape during hot weather (fig. 13). The whole construction has a lead-covered skirt which accommodates the present hatch door. The lead has dates and names scratched into it and of particular note graffiti celebrating VE day. The interior of the tower is furnished with a very large bell frame accommodating 6 bells (fig. 14). The frame is supported on two parallel beams with bolts though to the bell frame. On the east side corbelled

brickwork also supports the frame. The floor beneath the frame is covered with debris.

Fig 14. Bell frame from above looking east.

Conclusion The tower of Necton church retains the east wall and much of the north and south walls of the medieval tower. The rebuilding was undertaken in 1862 was the result of many years of structural problems which were manifesting themselves as early as the 1520s. The rebuilding employed modern brick work faced with flint yet retained the lines of the former tower allowing a few embellishments such as the gabled buttresses and in the particular the splendid lantern topped with an ogee cupola. The new strong bell chamber also made provision for a full set of bells. Stephen Heywood FSA Heritage and Landscape Norfolk County Council

November 2009

Fig. 13

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NOTES 1 P Cattermole and S Cotton, ‘Medieval Parish Church Building in Norfolk’ Norfolk Archaeology, XXXVIII, part III, 1983, p. 256. 2 All this evidence gleaned from the church record kept from 1833-1907. NRO: PD 143/42.