St Mary, Sedgeford, photographed by Tony Walsh on September 15, 2019.
Repairs to St Mary. Date unknown.
Font, St Mary.
Interior, St Mary. Date unknown, possibly August 6, 2015.
Parish bier at St Mary,by Bill Goode, taken on June 23, 1976.
The east wall of St Mary, taken on June 23, 1976 by Bill Goode.
Raised font at St Mary, taken by Bill Goode on June 23, 1976.
Interior, photographed by Bill Goode on June 23, 1976.
Tower, St Mary, photographed by Tony Walsh on September 15, 2019.
St Mary, photographed by Tony Walsh on September 15, 2019.
St Mary, photographed by Tony Walsh on September 15, 2019.
Dorothy Shreeve drawing of St Mary. Copyright, RTCS.
Claude Messent drawing of St Mary on April 30, 1958. Copyright, RTCS.

St Mary, Sedgeford

In the valley on the edge of the village, one of the largest round tower churches.  The church was built in C13 with its tower and aisled naves, narrower than the current aisles which embrace the tower.

As the tower and belfry have similar flintwork, Stephen Hart argues that they were probably built at the same time.  The church has a complex history with early C14 transepts and the current aisles built later in C14. Norman font of Purbeck marble. C16 Venetian chest. Jack Sterry describes Sedgeford in his 2003 book Hidden Treasures of North Norfolk.

Digging Sedgeford: A people’s archaeology is written by the SHARP Team and published by Poppyland Publishing. There is a fascinating chapter about St Mary’s church which draws on Stephen Hart‘s article published in the Round Tower in 2001 and reprinted here. 

The following chapter – power and piety in Medieval Sedgeford – considers the evidence for an earlier Saxon church with burials discovered as part of the excavations. Information about St Mary’s can also be found on Norfolk Heritage Explorer Record 1615.  

 

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