HARPLEY : CHURCH OF ST LAWRENCE
Church Post Code PE31 6UQ
Open to visitors
Visited December 2020
December 2020, and a cold, foggy morning in Norfolk. We were seven churches in to this churchcrawl when we arrived Harpley, a village of some 350 souls, just off the main road which runs between Kings Lynn and Cromer. A quiet, pleasant place to be, even on a cold foggy day such as this! Amner, with its royal connections, is just over three miles away, Castle Rising, where every school child in Peterborough had a field trip in the 1970’s is eight miles off to the south west.
It was starting to get a little warmer. Perhaps warm was not a word to be used today; it was starting to get less cold, with the frost melting and falling from the trees as we pulled up.
The church of St Lawrence is set back from the main road, and the only noise was the melting frost hitting the van roof! Even the birds appeared to be having a morning off! Walking up the path to the south porch, a Norfolk deaths head gravestone catches the eye; a skull in profile with one single eye showing, crossed bones beneath and a few frost covered spider’s webs, which were still refusing to melt! The message it is telling us today is the same as on the day it was carved, 275 odd years ago. Man is mortal! Live a good Christian life as you do not know when your time will come. A particularly appropriate message in the year of 2020 to be fair!
The church here dates back to the 13th century, but it is thought that there might have been a church here in Saxon times. There was a vicar here in the 17th century called Edward De Gurnay who was a prominent reformer, writing “Homily against images in Churches” which was published in 1639. It is thought that the empty images niches, which would have held statues of saints prior to the reformation, and some internal desecration, could be down to him.
The church itself, set back on slightly high ground behind some metal railings, has a square tower, buttressed and battlemented, north and south aisles, with clerestory, a long chancel and impressive south porch.
I walked up to the wonderful 15th century south door, which is considered to be one of the finest in Norfolk and tried the door. It was open! A sign attached to the church notice board stated that there had been a midweek communion on Wednesday December 2nd; the very morning that England had come out of its second lockdown. Good for them!
Standing at the west end and taking in the scene in front of me, I was a little surprised at how good the light was inside. It was dull outside and there was some stained glass here but the light was certainly workable. I don’t like photographing in a church with the lights on, especially during the pandemic. The church was good enough to be open and I want to touch as little as possible whilst in there, light switches included or indeed especially!
Victorian floor tiles lead to the chancel. As with Castle Acre before, the nave is separated from the chancel by a medieval rood screen. As with Castle Acre, the one here at Harpley has also been repainted. The repainting at Castle Acre was done sensitively; the onlooker could tell it had been repainted but it was done in the style of the day it was first built. Here though the repainting has bled the age and some of the character out of it sadly.
Stained glass includes a depiction of Jesus walking through a cornfield on the Sabbath with His disciples, eating the corn and being challenged by the Pharisees. From memory, this is the first time that I have seen this Bible passage set in to glass.
The church here a large collection of medieval bench ends, some depicting human figures, some domestic and exotic animals. The pandemic of 2020 has seen the best and sometimes certainly the worst, of the British people. Three of the best, people to lift the spirits, were 100 years old Captain Tom, who set out to raise £1000 on a sponsored walk and ended up making nearly £32 million, Andrew Cotter, whose videos of his dogs Olive and Mabel went viral (check out “Walk Of Shame” – “”I’ll just stare at the trees and think about getting a cat”) and Hercule Van Wolfwinkle, another charity fundraiser whose really bad pet portraits were one of the highlights of a challenging year.
Now, with regards the latter, one of the bench ends here was probably what Hercule would have produced if he were a wood carver back in the 15th century. A dog with ears wrapped tight to its head like a hat, no real nose but nostrils anyway and grossly out of proportion front legs!
Most of the human figures have had the heads sawn off at one point in time, with the smart money being on Edward De Gurnay and his fellow reformers who no doubt took exception to the subject matter of the carvings. The heads have been replaced, possibly during Victorian restoration. This is a lovely church, and a very interesting one; reformation damage still visible today. History that one can reach out and touch, if we were allowed to touch anything in these challenging times!
High up in the tracery of the west window are several sections of medieval glass. Identifiable is St John, holding a goblet from which the devil in the form of a serpent escapes. My favourite amongst these small panels was a golden haired and golden winged angel, playing a lure. Beautiful work!
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STANHOE : CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS
Church Post Code PE31 8QF
Open to visitors
Heading for North and South Creake, we took in Stanhoe, and the church of All Saints on the way. A delightful, but curious structure this one! The tower is offset to the south west corner of the south aisle, with entry to the church through the south face of the tower. Looking at the church from the south the south wall of the nave was built high, but there were no clerestory windows. There was the space for them; they were just not included!
The church was open, which was great! Moving inside, my attention was taken by a sign welcoming visitors. It read… “We hope that you find comfort and peace here. Whatever, or whoever is on your mind today, come in and lay your concerns before God, who cares for you and for those you love” A lovely welcome!
To my mind that does not just include the members of the church congregation here; it should encompass the rest of the parish who would not normally worship here but who need some peace and calm in troubled times. It should include people like myself, visiting on the day and taking from it whatever they need at that time; whether it be like myself, wandering around doing my own private Bible study through the stained glass; or a non believer just sitting in the quiet and maybe just experiencing something at a time when they most need it.
It was very dull outside and, to be honest, I would really have appreciated some clerestory windows to lighten things up a little. There are some delightful stained glass windows here, although my camera was struggling a little in the light.
The risen Christ crowned and with hand raised in blessing; flames shooting from around Him is the focal point of the fine east window. Biblical characters from Old and New Testament are depicted below Him, with names on their nimbus (halo) which I did appreciate. Some are easily identifiable such as King David playing his harp and St Peter with the keys to the kingdom of Heaven, but others are not.
One window of six panels show an eclectic series from the life of Jesus. The shepherds worship the baby Jesus; Jesus stills the waves on board ship with the disciples; Jesus washes Peter’s feet; Jesus is surrounded by children; the Crucifixion and doubting Thomas.
There are two depictions of Easter morning, with an angel pointing upwards towards Heaven; “He is risen” A second panel in one of the windows illustrates the meeting between Jesus and Mary Magdalene on that day when Mary mistakes Jesus for the gardener. Jesus, hand raised in blessing and crucifixion wounds visible on hand, side and feet greets her; “Maria” He says with His word on the glass beside Him. “Rabboni” Mary replies. A powerful depiction!
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It was good to be able to see this church. It wasn’t on the list to visit when we set out but it was a good plan B instead of Barmer. If we had attempted that flooded pathway we would probably been waiting to be pulled out by a tractor at that time!
It was early afternoon by this time and it was looking as if it would be pretty dark by around 3.30! There was time to visit North Creake and South Creake before the daylight faded completely. These are two of the most impressive churches in Norfolk and they had been on my to visit list for several years. Despite the weather this was turning in to a very decent churchcrawl!
HARPLEY RE-VISIT APRIL 2021
It was a bright and sunny afternoon in April 2021, Easter weekend and two days in this beautiful part of Norfolk. We re-visited the church of St Lawrence at Harpley; it was a brief visit on the cold and foggy day the previous December, as we wished to take in the churches at North and South Creake before the daylight faded completely. It was about 20 degrees warmer and there was hardly a cloud in the sky as we returned. .
The church consists of west tower, which is offset to the west end of the south aisle, nave with north and south aisles and clerestories, south porch and chancel. The church is buttressed throughout. An ornate battlemented parapet runs the length of the nave. A beast sits at one corner, coats of arms of benefactors below, looking upwards. Close by, a lion with long flowing mane contentedly basks in the early afternoon sunshine.
The church was open to visitors, as it was on my previous visit, and it was good to see two couples already in the church exploring. There was no restriction on movement within the church. With it being the Easter, the church was decorated with a large cross set on the floor of the nave approaching the chancel. This is a big church! The population of the village was a little less than 340 at the time of the 2011 census and I suspect that the whole lot could fit in here should the need arise. These churches were not built to reflect the size of the population of the village, a large church was built for the glory of God, and also to lessen the time that the benefactor would need to spend in purgatory after their death, the religion of the country being Catholic pre reformation. Norfolk was particularly prosperous in the middle ages and we see many large churches for that reason.
Nave is separated from chancel by a medieval rood screen. This was repainted during Victorian times and has a selection of Old Testament prophets on the lower panels. Not to my taste at all; either in terms of subject matter or the fact that it was repainted in the first place. The rood screen door leading to the chancel has, amongst others, a depiction of the Virgin Mary with the baby Jesus,
The chancel is was beautifully lit by the afternoon sunshine. The east window is of three lights and is plain glass. There is some restored medieval glass in the tracery though. The alter is plain and simple with four candles (no, handles for forks I hear from Two Ronnies' fans everywhere!) A wooden reredos depicts Christ crucified. An Easter Sepulchre can be seen against the north wall of the chancel, a rare survival and perhaps an unlikely survival given that De Gurnay was vicar here.
I will mention some medieval glass in a moment, but there is a couple of pieces of Victorian glass to note. One shows Jesus as the Good Shepherd; 'Feed My Sheep' it says at the top. The other shows Jesus with His disciples in a cornfield on the Sabbath, picking at the corn. They are being questioned by the Pharisees as to why they are doing this on the Sabbath. I haven't seen this passage in stained glass much over the years. An interesting choice.
Lighting conditions were more favourable this time and I was able to shoot properly some fine medieval stained glass in the tracery at the top of the fine west window. With the tower being offset to the south west corner, there is no tower arch in view and there is a fine uninterrupted view of this. The glass is said to date from the 15th century, this being the time that the nave was rebuilt. Perhaps this glass dates from the time of the rebuilding. At the centre of the scene is a depiction of the Annunciation, close by St John holds a chalice from which a serpent emerges. Central at the top is a praying figure which is thought to be the donor who was possibly the wealthy merchant who paid for the restoration at that time. Jesus would normally be given the place at the top of the window; it is certainly unusual to see the donor given pride of place.
At the bottom of this west window is a series of depictions of angels. The Great Massingham Benefice website suggests that these are depictions of the nine orders of Angels. These are depicted with human faces and golden wings. One looks intently at a set of scales, two are holding books, one further plays a stringed instrument, one holds a urine bowl. Some are cloaked whilst others have feathers on their body, If these do represent the nine orders of angels then they are a watered down version; perhaps so that the onlooker will not be frightened by what they see. Biblically, normally when an angel appears the first words that they say are something like 'do not be afraid'. The cherubim for example are said to have four faces; that of man, ox, lion and eagle and wings covered in eyes.
There are nine orders of angels but ten angels depicted; the tenth is likely to be the personal guardian angel that was believed to be assigned to each person; Christian or not.
A look up shows a fascinating series of angels which can be seen running along the central beam of the roof. The top half of the angels only are shown. They have hands raised, long flowing hair and fabulously carved wings.
There are several carved medieval bench ends to be seen here, with several of these having been damaged over the years and repaired. Perhaps these fell foul of the iconoclasts during the reformation. One shows a figure wearing a bishops hat which appears to now have a more modern head. There is no damage evident to a lovely depiction of a squirrel!
One of the bench ends is inscribed to John Martin and dated 1638. This was just four years before the English Civil War and some of the most turbulent times in our nation's history. Fascinating to think what he might have seen during those years of war, should he still have been alive. This is one of my most favourite Norfolk churches, A joy to visit it with the sun shining!
The visitor enter in through the 15th century south door, which is thought to be one of the finest of its type in the county. It is embellished with Tudor roses, crockets, and rich canopies and the wicket is traceried and has signs of St Luke and St John, there are niches running from the sill of the door with mutilated figures of saints and the four doctors of the church Gregory, Jerome, Ambrose and Augustine, their faces sliced off by Reformers who saw these images as idolatrous. In the porch itself we see nine holes punched in to a stone bench, three rows of three; this being the board for a game called Three Men's Morris.
The church grounds are of interest with some interesting symbolism on some of the gravestone. There is nothing of any great rarity; with nothing having its own Grade II Listing. Just to pick out a couple of stones, a side on carving of a human skull, with just a single eye socket visible along with an impressive set of teeth, is a deaths head; with the skull reminding those looking on that Man is mortal and will die. The message being passed on is to live a good Christian life, trust in God and do not get caught short when your own time comes. And in times of low life expectancy it might be later than you thought!
Close by we see a crossed trumpet and flaming torch. The trumpet was an often used symbol of the resurrection; the flaming torch, if the flame is upright, is a symbol for eternal life. If the flame is extinguished or is pointing downwards, this is a symbol of mourning.
There are no bells and whistles here; no screens, no worship bands, no light shows; no need! This is a beautiful church, open and welcoming, with its doors open for those who have a need; performing its Christian witness quietly, without making a fuss. This is a church to be treasured and I enjoyed my two visits here very much.
This page is being revised in the late autumn of 2025 and a report concerning this church is on the Diocese of Norwich website. It is about the service given by Donald Gotts, who has opened up the church daily for visitors for 50 years. The report stated that he first did this more than 75 years ago, when a teenager with his mother who was the previous keyholder who opened and closed. Our hobby is built on the backs of people such as this!