Norfolk author Peter Wade-Martins has been nominated in the Book of the Year category for his study of almost 650 churches. His book, In Search of Norfolk’s First Stone Churches, is reviewed in the December edition of The Round Tower.
Voting closes in this category for the 2025 Current Archaeology Awards on February 10 on the British Archaeology Publishing’s website, see below.
A two-year study of Norfolk churches has produced a mine of information about the materials used to construct them.
The author, who lives at North Elmham, visited 649 churches between May 2021 and May 2023, and has recorded in detail types of stones and tiles used. His experience as Norfolk county archaeologist between 1973 and 1999 and then the first director of the Norfolk Archaeology Trust until 2014 was invaluable.
In his latest published work, he considers how the use of ferruginous or iron-bound conglomerate and Roman building materials in Norfolk churches was an indicator of early period of church building. It was a time when little other local stone, except flint, was available.
The aim of the project was to assess the distribution of iron-bound material, Roman tiles and Leziate grey quartzite stone in early Norfolk churches.
Dr Wade-Martins noted that the distribution of churches containing conglomerate indicates that it was dug from local river gravels and was not carted far. It was used for corners, doorways and windows until limestone ashlar from Barnack or Caen, Normandy, became more available. Of the 650 churches, he identified 172 or 26pc including conglomerate. And of these, 29 or 17pc contained Roman tiles.
The main concentration of conglomerate in churches was found in about 20 parishes north of Aylsham around the headwaters of the River Bure and in the Bure Valley running down to the Broads. There is another group in the Fakenham area around the upper reaches of the river Wensum and running down the valley towards Norwich.
At the same time, flint rubble from Roman ruined buildings was used – sourced from villas, coastal forts and large towns like Caistor and Brampton. Identification was made possible by comparing the thickness with about 2,000 reused Roman tiles from a middle Saxon well excavated in North Elmham, actually by the author earlier in his career.
He recognises the difficulty of ageing churches with precision. Even evidence from the Domesday Book, circa 1085, was not always that helpful because only about 270, possibly 272 churches, were recorded in Norfolk. As the survey recorded owned property, churches were not always included.
It is likely that Scandinavian tradition of building in timber probably continued post-Conquest but more stone was then used , initially sourced locally, through the 11th and 12th centuries.
Often the best way to understand the age of a church, he suggests, might be to start assessing its early history by checking the north-west corner. And when a nave and chancel are of the same width, the end of the original nave, can be detected as vertical lines of conglomerate quoins in wall faces as at Ashby St Mary and on the north wall at Bessingham (featured by the author, below). When conglomerate is used in wall faces, it is typically found at lower levels – the best pieces were kept aside for quoins, windows and doorways while the rest was mixed with flints and used first.
There was a concentration of churches in the eastern counties with at least 921 stone churches built in Norfolk between the 11th and 16th centuries. Of these 610 are still in use (excluding Lothingland added in the 1974 local government reorganisation). It is the largest number in any English county. Lincolnshire stands second with 600 (now 445 in use), then Suffolk 580 (460 in use).
A significant discovery, made near the end of the project, is that the sandstone quoins in the north-west corner of Brampton Church are millstone grit from the crags of the east Pennines.
In search of Norfolk’s First Stone Churches – The use of ferruginous gravels and sands and the reuse of Roman building materials in early churches.
Peter Wade-Martins. Copies from BAR Publishing, www.barpublishing.com or 122, Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7BP. Cost £52. 168 pages. ISBN 9781407361390. If you sign up for free BAR membership, the book may be bought at a significant discount.
Michael Pollitt