Virtual Church Tour

ACCESS: a parking area can be reached up an unmade track from Flordon Long Lane signposted to Flordon Church & Community Centre.

A signposted pedestrian footpath leads from The Street, near the red telephone box.

The church is usually open on a Saturday, but if you wish to see inside on other days instructions for borrowing a key are on notice-boards.

WELCOME to Flordon Church – a treasured piece of history, a thriving Community Centre, and a small but faithful congregation of worshippers renowned for their welcome!

We begin by the parking area, looking south and down on St Michael's church, Flordon.

Why the church was not built at a higher point is one of several mysteries! No church is mentioned in the Domesday Book for Florenduna, but the building seems to have some Anglo-Saxon remains. The tiny window above the vestry (far right extension), is thought to belong to a Saxon church about half the length of the current nave (slightly higher right section). More about that later!

From here it is hard to believe that it was once an even larger building. The chancel (slightly lower left section) was added in the 12th century. By the end of the 13th century the church had been enlarged several times with aisles or chapels built on this side and on the south side. But as the population and income declined in the following century (possibly linked to the Black Death) it was made smaller again – probably by Roger of Northwold (Rector 1329 – 1372). He left £100 (a huge sum then) in his Will for repairs and/or alterations to the church and asked to be buried in the porch.

The nave roof has brighter, modern tiles. This is because it was re-roofed in 2009 – more about that before you leave.

Flordon Church used to have a round tower at the west (right) end. It was described as 'decayed' with large cracks in 1750 and 'suddenly and unexpectedly' fell down in 1774 and was never rebuilt. Instead, a large cupula was added to the roof to hold one new bell. This lithograph drawn around 1820 shows how different it looked from today.:

The current bell enclosure was made when the west window was added in 1873. The small Vestry was also added during the Victorian renovation, and was adapted to include a disabled toilet in 2013.

Now walk down the path towards the church....

As you approach the vestry, take a look at the Saxon window referred to earlier. It is matched by a similar window on the south side, where the possible end of the ancient chapel is more visible. The pair of windows show that the width of the present church is the same as in Saxon times, even if it is now much longer.

Stop and look at the west wall. You are standing where the tower once stood! After it fell down in 1774, the parishioners built a strong brick wall at the west end, which looked very out of keeping with the old flint walls. The wall was rebuilt and a window inserted in 1873 when Rev. G F Whittaker was Rector, and the bell cupula was then replaced. The remaining bell is dated 1775 and was cast in Whitechapel. [Tap / click on gallery photos to enlarge]

To the right of the path, opposite the west wall, are some interesting gravestones. TAKE CARE IF YOU TAKE A CLOSER LOOK - THE GROUND IS VERY UNEVEN, WITH HIDDEN STONES IN THE GRASS.

Near the fence, opposite the vestry, with a kerb and chippings, is the memorial to W/O Granville ('Sonny') Sharpe who served with Bomber Command and was killed on a RAF Pathfinding operation in 1944 when his plane crashed into the North Sea off Heacham. He is also commemorated on the WW2 memorial inside the church. 

The large tomb near the porch wall was once surrounded by railings and is inscribed to William Youngman 'Late of Rainthorpe Hall, Farmer' who died in 1778, and other members of his family.

Beyond it is a simple cross on a 3-stepped base which is the memorial of Edward Thomas Gaymer and his wife Alice who lived and farmed at Flordon Hall and were part of the Gaymer cider family. See Hall Farm page.

Near the fence, slightly south of the church, is a row of 4 headstones for the families of Anscomb, Arnold and Potter – all associated with Harvey House.

Now cross the main path to the south side of the church where a number of local notables are buried, including Robert Green and family (by tree near porch); Barron Brightwell (towards the hedge); the Gay family of Rainthorpe Hall (by corner of church); and Benjamin Branford (by church wall). Photos and information here.

Take a close look at the south wall - it holds clues to the way the building has changed over time.

From near the fenced Branford tomb, spot a distinct change in the stonework (left of the double window), with some larger cornerstones in what is now the middle of the wall. This probably marks the east end of the Anglo-Saxon church, which was doubled in length in the late 12th or early 13th Century. Then, a chancel was added, extending the building much further east. Arches were punched through this wall to create a south aisle or chapel (and a similar one created on the north side) but these were demolished after the Black Death of c.1350 when the small population could no longer maintain a large church. But good masonry was precious, and reused when walls had to be rebuilt - notice the double window with a quatrefoil and neat flints above, which look like odds and ends from a late 12th or early 13th century building.

There are traces of other blocked archways if you look carefully, and in the corner above the porch is a small Anglo-Saxon window that matches the one on the north side. Both were uncovered when renovation work was being done in 1908. A thousand or more years ago, Flordon church may have looked similar to the early Saxon church of St Peter-on-the-Wall at Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex, which has been beautifully preserved despite having been used as a barn for many years! Its older window openings (not visible in this photo) are similar to those at Flordon.

Move back to the main path to look at the porch.... It does seem large for a small church!

It was built when the old south aisle was pulled down, and there are signs of an archway that once led from the main church into that aisle. The windows shown in the 1820 lithograph have been blocked up, and the ceiling dates from 1908. The door itself, with its fittings, is far older than the porch. Roger de Northwold, Rector from 1329 to 1372, planned, and maybe supervised, the building of the porch: he left money in his Will for building work and, unusually, asked to be buried in the porch (Rectors were normally buried in the Chancel). The illegible memorial slab recorded by Blomefield around 1730 was probably Roger's, but it has gone now.

Before entering the church, notice the Ordnance Survey bench mark carved by a surveyor on the buttress to the left of the porch entrance. You are standing at 30.248 metres above sea level!

WELCOME inside Flordon church and community centre! Immediately you will notice the space created by the 2013 face-lift, when an uneven brick floor was replaced with oak boards, pews were replaced by chairs, and a kitchen area sympathetically fitted beneath the west window. This flexible space is used for village events as there is no other public building.

The rather plain octagonal font may date from the 14th century. When the church was refurbished, it was placed in its original position, just inside the door, to symbolise baptism as the means of entering the Christian church. Beyond it is the Victorian vestry and to the right a list of past Rectors on boards that used to be on the west wall. Flordon was a Benefice (a Rector's 'domain') in its own right for centuries, but when tithes were abolished and glebe rents were low in the 1920s, there was not enough income to maintain one Rector per parish. In 1936 Flordon and Hapton parishes were joined under one Rector. After the last Rector of the combined parishes left in 1979, Flordon became part of a group with Tasburgh and Newton Flotman. Then, in a redistribution of South Norfolk parishes, it was moved and is now joined with Mulbarton, Bracon Ash and Hethel.

You can now see the West Window from the inside, inserted by 1873, and high up in the north and south walls are the tiny Saxon windows. Also on each wall are memorials to men who lived in or had connections to Flordon who died in two world wars. Their names have been researched, with details here. Another plaque records the Clabburn Charity, recording that in 1816 a bequest in the Will of Thomas Clabburn gave bread and coal to poor people in Flordon and adjacent parishes. 

Approaching the chancel (East end), the gate in the north wall screens a narrow stairway discovered during restoration work in 1908. It once led to a rood loft - a passageway across the chancel arch where Christ on the cross with Mary and John were placed and a small lamp kept alight. Today, a simple beam, added in 1928, replaces this, but some of the statues have been lost. Above the chancel arch, in a gilt frame, is the coat of arms of Queen Anne (1702-1714) - too dark to recognise now. They are a rare survival: Flordon failed to follow instructions from 18th century Archdeacons to replace this with the coat of arms of the Hanoverian Georges!

The pulpit is an unusual shape, with attractive carving. Its brass book holder was given after WW1 by the Gaymer family of Hall Farm as a thankoffering for the safe return of their son, William David. The pulpit appears to be contemporary with the lectern and the reading desk. The front of the latter is clearly labelled 'Anno dom 1575', but the lectern seems to have been made from a matching desk that was shortened, as its inscription reads 'nno dom 157'. These remind us that after the Reformation of Edward VI, and counter-reformation under his sister, Mary, another sister, Elizabeth, finally established the Reformed Church of England in which the focus was on God's Word, read and explained in the language of the people.

The chancel itself dates from the 13th century, with some more recent renovations. The East window depicts a finely drawn St Peter, barefoot with his bunch of keys and Book of Life. One of the top windows has the arms of the Baxters of Rainthorpe. Thomas Baxter began remodelling Rainthorpe Hall in 1579 and he and his wife were buried in Tasburgh church. In the south wall are signs of a medieval archway into the south aisle or a chapel which was blocked up and a new window added, which still has some 14th century glass. The Sanctuary, the area inside the Victorian communion rail, is paved with patterned Minton tiles added around 1885. The electrically operated pipe organ was added by Rev Robert Whaite (Rector 1950 - 1955), replacing a foot-operated harmonium. His wife, Annie, was organist, and her husband added a touching memorial plaque after she died suddenly in 1953. An interesting family - more about them, with photos, under Rectors.

Look up, and you will see the curved wooden ceiling added to both chancel and nave in 1908. These hide the remarkably well-preserved ancient timbers of one of the oldest surviving church roofs in Norfolk. The 13th century  timbers were  discovered when the nave and porch were retiled in 2009. Some still had the carpenters' marks to show how they should be reassembled when hoisted on top of the walls. Even older timbers were revealed on top of the walls, which may have belonged to the Saxon church or a Norman successor. The uneven rafters remaining from when the roof was thatched had been levelled with additional strips of wood to enable tiles to be laid evenly. Reeds and plaster were found trapped between some of the tiles. The new roof has 8000 tiles, hand-made of local clay in Sussex. When the final ridge tiles were in place, the roof structure was hidden for further centuries. Pictures of all the renovation work are on the Church page and in the Photo Gallery.

We hope you have enjoyed your tour and found here the peace and presence of God. As you leave, notice the medieval water stoop in the wall beside the door, and further the signs of an ancient archway to a south aisle. This little church has seen expansion and decay, Reformation and renovation, and has been a beacon of hope in dark times for many. The recent, and costly, renovations of the 21st century show how much it is still loved and cared for, and brought back into the heart of the community.