St Augustine's Church, Norwich

Edit links
Coordinates: 52°38′14″N 1°17′33″E / 52.6372°N 1.2925°E / 52.6372; 1.2925
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

St Augustine's Church, Norwich
Style
Gothic
Closed1997
Specifications
MaterialsFlint with stone and brick dressings
Brick tower

St Augustine's Church is a

Anglican church building in the city of Norwich, Norfolk, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.[1] and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.[2] The church stands to the west of St Augustine's Street, the A1024 road, to the north of the Norwich inner ring road.[2][3]

History

St Augustine's is the only pre-Reformation church in Norfolk with this dedication.[4] The earliest documentary evidence of a church dedicated to St Augustine in Norwich dates from 1163 in a letter from the bishop of Norwich, William de Turbe, to the prior of Llanthony Secunda Priory in Gloucester.[5] Nothing of this Norman church survives. The church was substantially rebuilt in the early 15th century. The tower was added in 1682–87 after the flint tower collapsed. The date 1687 was added, presumably on completion, to the east-facing parapet. In the 1880s R. M. Phipson restored part of the fabric of the church and reordered the interior. During the 20th century the condition of the building deteriorated. By the 1990s the tower had become dangerous and the church's three 17th-century Norwich-made bells (which pre-date the new tower) were removed and donated to All Saints church, Carleton Rode.[6] The church was declared redundant on 18 March 1975, and was vested in the Churches Conservation Trust on 19 April 2000.[7] As of 2000, the congregation meets in the church hall.[8] But the church is still used on high days and holidays.[9]

Architecture

Exterior

The body of the church is constructed in

plinth, and is the only one of its kind in the city.[2] The church is square in plan, with the nave and chancel being similar in length, and the aisles running along their full length. There is also a clerestory extending along the length of the nave, a south porch, and a rood turret against the wall of the north aisle. The tower is at the west end, and is in three stages. In the lowest stage is a west window with a pointed arch. The middle stage contains small square windows on each side, and in the top stage the bell openings have two lights. The parapet is rendered and battlemented. The nave is in four bays and contains two-light windows with Decorated tracery. The clerestory has four two-light windows on each side containing Y-tracery. The chancel is in two bays, with three-light Perpendicular windows in the aisles, and a five-light east window.[1]

Interior

The arcades are carried on octagonal piers.[1] The font dates from the 15th century. The pews and the reredos are from the 1880s, and the chancel screen, which incorporates the pulpit and a reading desk, was added in 1920 as a memorial to those who died in the First World War. The memorials include a marble wall monument to the Palladian architect Matthew Brettingham, who designed Holkham Hall, and other family members,[2][10][11] and one to a textile manufacturer, Thomas Clabburn, erected by "upwards of six hundred of the weavers of Norwich and assistants".[2][10][12][13] A mural memorial in the north nave aisle commemorates a Boston (Mass.) -born merchant, Thomas Churchman Newman, who died in Norwich in 1787. He was an older brother of Robert Newman (sexton), whose belfry signal sparked off the American Revolution in 1775. There is little stained glass; that in the east window dates from 1870, and the glass in the north chancel aisle, depicting SS Felix of Dunwich and Augustine of Canterbury, dates from 1901. A window in the south nave aisle, depicting the Virgin Mary, Mary Magdalene and an angel at the empty tomb of Jesus Christ, dates from 1918 and is a memorial to a soldier of the parish who was killed in action in 1917 (see below). The two-manual organ was transferred from St Peter's Church, Hungate, (which is now a museum). It was built in 1875–78 by John Rayson, and restored in 1959–60 by Hill, Norman & Beard.[14][15]

War memorials

There are four different memorials associated with the

American Expeditionary Force, Private James Cooke; and one who service in the Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Air Force
, Air Mechanic Frank Brighty.

There are additional memorials to individuals. Lance Corporal Arthur Cannell of the 6th (Cyclist) Battalion and 1st Battalion,

Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene before an angel at the empty tomb of Jesus.[16]
There is also a memorial to the parish's war dead of the Second World War that lists the names of eight servicemen and five civilians, including four from one family killed during the Baedeker Blitz on Norwich on 27 April 1942.http://www.staugustinesnorwich.org.uk/History_-_Rolls_of_Honour.html

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Historic England, "St Augustine's Church, Norwich (1051896)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 5 October 2013
  2. ^ a b c d e St Augustine's Church, Norwich, Norfolk, Churches Conservation Trust, retrieved 9 December 2016
  3. ^ Norwich, Streetmap, retrieved 23 February 2011
  4. ^ Linnell, C.L.S. (1962). Norfolk Church Dedications. York: St. Anthony's Press. p. 17.
  5. ^ Harper-Bill, Christopher (1990). English Episcopal Acta VI: Norwich 1071-1214. Oxford: OUP.
  6. ^ Meeting as a church at St Augustine's, Norwich Christian Meditation Centre, retrieved 24 February 2011
  7. ^ Diocese of Norwich: All Schemes (PDF), Church Commissioners/Statistics, Church of England, 2010, p. 6, retrieved 5 January 2012
  8. ^ St Augustine's Church, Norwich, UK Church Directory, retrieved 5 January 2012
  9. ^ "Norwich Meditation : St Augustine's", www.norwichmeditation.co.uk, retrieved 24 October 2015
  10. ^ a b Monuments in St Augustine, Norwich Historic Churches Trust, retrieved 24 February 2011
  11. ^ Matthew Brettingham, Norwich Historic Churches Trust, retrieved 24 February 2011
  12. ^ Thomas Clabburn, Norwich Historic Churches Trust, retrieved 24 February 2011
  13. ^ See The Descendants of Thomas Clabburn, born 1760 at airgale.com.au. The memorial reads: "This tablet is erected to the memory of Thomas Clabburn, manufacturer, by upwards of six hundred of the weavers of Norwich and assistants in his establishment as a mark of esteem for his many virtues as an employer and a kind good man. He departed this life March 31st 1858 aged 70." Clabburn was a Silk Weaver, Manufacturer & Merchant in Magdalen Street, Norwich.
  14. ^ Norfolk, Norwich, St. Peter (now a museum), Hungate, (N06515), British Institute of Organ Studies, retrieved 24 February 2011
  15. ^ Norfolk, Norwich, St. Augustine (N06497), British Institute of Organ Studies, retrieved 24 February 2011
  16. ISBN 978 1 904006 74 9
    .

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=St_Augustine%27s_Church,_Norwich&oldid=1217111371"