All Saints Church, West Harling facts for kids
Quick facts for kids All Saints Church, West Harling |
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All Saints Church, West Harling, from the south
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| OS grid reference | TL 973 852 |
| Location | West Harling, Norfolk |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Anglican |
| Website | Churches Conservation Trust |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Redundant |
| Heritage designation | Grade I |
| Designated | 16 July 1958 |
| Architectural type | Church |
| Style | Gothic, Gothic Revival |
| Specifications | |
| Materials | Flint and brick Tiled roofs |
All Saints Church, West Harling is a historic Anglican church in the village of Harling, Norfolk, England. It is no longer used for regular church services. This church is listed as a Grade I building, which means it's a very important historic site. The Churches Conservation Trust looks after it. You can find the church standing alone near Thetford Forest.
Contents
History of All Saints Church
The church was first built in the late 1200s. Over the next century, some changes and additions were made. It was repaired in 1733, and more changes happened in 1756. In 1902, the church was fully restored, making it look new again.
Architecture of the Church
Outside the Church
All Saints Church is mostly built from flint (a type of stone), with some cut stone (called ashlar) and brick. It has tiled roofs. The church has a simple layout: a main area called the nave, a porch on the south side, a special area for the altar called the chancel, and a tower on the west side.
The tower has two main sections. It is supported by strong buttresses that have a cool checkered pattern. In the lower part of the tower, there's a window with two sections, added in 1902. On the south side, there's a small space (a niche) with a three-leaf shape at the top, where a statue might have once stood. Higher up on the north and south sides are more windows, also with three-leaf tops.
The top part of the tower has two lancet windows for the bells. Above these, there's a crenellated top, which looks like the top of a castle wall. These parts of the tower were added in 1756.
The porch has a pointed roof (gable) and diagonal buttresses. Each side of the porch has windows with two sections. On the north wall of the nave, there are two windows from the mid-1300s and a doorway. The south wall has a similar window and another window with a special stone pattern (called tracery).
The south wall of the chancel has a window from 1902 and a door for the priest. The large east window has three sections and dates back to around 1300. On the north wall of the chancel, there's a narrow window from the 1200s and a window that sticks out from the roof (a dormer window), which lets light into the organ area. All around the outside of the church, you can see carved heads.
Inside the Church
The nave has a special type of roof called a hammerbeam roof, and the chancel roof is curved like a barrel. Both of these roofs were added in 1902.
In the chancel, there are two piscinas (small basins for washing sacred vessels) and a niche that was likely for a sedilia (seats for priests). On the back of this niche, you can still see a small piece of painted pattern. Some of the windows still have pieces of medieval stained glass.
The font, which is used for baptisms, has eight sides and is from the 1400s. On the floor of the nave, there are three brass plaques with dates from the late 1400s and early 1500s. The reredos (a screen behind the altar) has panels from Flanders. There is also a bust (a sculpture of a head and shoulders) in the church from 1780.
See also
