THE MASSINGHAMS : GREAT & LITTLE
GREAT MASSINGHAM : CHURCH OF ST MARY.
Church Post Code PE32 2HY
Visited December 2020. Revisit April 2021
This look at the church of St Mary at Great Massingham concerns two visits; the first being in December 2020 with a revisit in April of 2021. The original visit came at a challenging time for the country, and the rest of the world, with the country having gone in to a covid tier system and it wasn’t to be very long until a third National Lockdown would be implemented.
We were allowed to travel and churches were allowed to be open and we had started off this Norfolk churchcrawl with a visit to the Acres, with Castle Acre being open. From there we headed north around five miles to Great Massingham.
The village here can be found some 11 miles east of Kings Lynn; a very attractive village with large ponds some of which have their origins as fish ponds for an Augustinian Abbey. The impressive tower of the church of St Mary loomed in to view through the fog, which was still quite dense.
The lights were on inside and it was obvious that people were inside. It was not the best of times for a stranger to walk in to a church, albeit masked up. Typing this page in the winter of 2025 how strange those days now seem! I cautiously opened the door and asked if it was okay to come in; the welcome was first rate!
Half a dozen or so ladies were decorating the church up for Christmas. They had been busy already. There was a decorated tree outside the west door of the tower and the south porch was lit up with strings of lights. Inside, a lit tree stood at the chancel entrance. Bench ends were decorated with tinsel and one of the most impressive biers that I have come across had red ribbons and pine cones. As always the British carry on in with normality as much as possible when things are tough!
It was interesting to see some medieval glass in the tracery of the south chancel windows. These are badly damaged, with every single head having been replaced by clear glass and other bits and pieces missing. This was no doubt the work of reformers who took exception to the subject matter. Easily identifiable is Peter, carrying the keys to the kingdom of Heaven. Simon the Zealot is depicted carrying a boat and Bartholomew carries a knife, depicting the manner of his execution. Sometimes he is seen carrying his own skin.
There are a couple of interesting carved bench ends here. A very friendly lady showed me a carved figure of a lady holding prayer beads and a bearded figure with impressive eyebrows can be seen in the nave. It was lovely to spend a little time here. While looking around the church it was nice to listen to the chatter. Apart from Gary, who I travel with, I have seen hardly anyone in any of the churches that I have visited during the pandemic. I always enjoy attending churches where there is a coffee morning on. A cup of tea and a cheese scone or two! Fond memories of walking in to the church at Buckden, Cambridgeshire ten years and more ago and hearing the chatter of people, “I’m In The Mood For Love” being played on the church organ.
The question was asked “what do you do with your photos” and within a few seconds the “tech department”, two young girls who were among the work party, had found my facebook page on their phones! What a difference in attitude and outlook! It was great to be welcomed for a short time in to their church and this made me very happy.
A very pleasant and warm early April day in 2021, Easter Sunday to be exact, was spent in Norfolk, and a return trip to Great Massingham. What a glorious village! I had liked it before, in the depth of winter but here, with the sun out and spring in the air it was beautiful! The cyclists, walkers and the odd churchcrawler had emerged from winter hibernation/lockdown and the large village green in front of the church was packed with people enjoying the chance to get out and about. There are quite a few ponds here, with some of these starting out as fish ponds which, as mentioned earlier, used to be part of an 11th century Augustinian Abbey.
A picnic table was set up in the church grounds and half a dozen cyclists had taken it over, having a well earned break before they headed back to Kings Lynn. As is often the case, they were interested in what I was doing and why I was doing it. The church was open to visitors, as was most of the ten churches in the GMC Benefice that weekend.
There wasn't a soul about this time though, and I spent an enjoyable time exploring this church in solitude, and in considerably better lighting than before!
The church of St Mary sits in the centre of the village, with much of it dating from the 15th century. The fine south porch though, with its slim crocketed pinnacles, dates from earlier, dating from the early 13th century. This used to be used as a school room and Robert Walpole, who became Britain's first Prime Minister in 1721 attended school here as a child.
Looking at the church, set against a cloudless sky, we see a fine perpendicular four stage tower, with flushwork buttressing, battlemented with crocketed pinnacles. Weathered gargoyles, depicted in various stages of distress, look out from all four sides. Beasts sit guard over the south aisle; adopting rather haughty expressions The clerestories are in the form of five three light windows; the east window is of five light with trefoil shaped tracery. A fine exterior!
Moving inside, the Christmas decorations were long gone and the church was looking beautiful; with sunlight flooding in through the south windows. There was much Victorian restoration here and that is very much in evidence when looking around. There are five bay Early English arcades to north and south, each with quatrefoil piers and capitals. Looking back to the west the tower arch is slim and elegant; stretching virtually from floor to ceiling.
The high altar is plain and simple with just a cross and two candlesticks. The altar front is more elaborate though with a golden depiction of Mary the Mother of Jesus meeting Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. The reredos depicts the crucifixion, with Christ crucified, with Mary and John alongside the cross. The colour theme throughout the interior is blue; the colour associated with Mary the Mother of Jesus.
By the time that we arrived on the day the Easter morning service had taken place and things were certainly looking brighter (literally) than they were on that foggy day the previous December. Later that day we visited the Weasenham's and the kindly vicar proudly showed me around his church, St Peter, as the congregation started to arrive for what he told me was their first service since the churches were closed down in March of the previous year.
It was lovely to see the Easter arrangement with the empty tomb, in the form of a flower pot, guarded by an angel in white with the risen Christ off to one side. Peering in to the tomb we see Peter and John with Mary Magdalene kneeling in payer with her distinctive long hair. In the background we see three crosses. all empty.
LITTLE MASSINGHAM : CHURCH OF ST ANDREW
Church Post Code PE32 2JR
Open to visitors
Visited October 2021
The church of St Andrew Little Massingham; a mile to the north of Great Massingham, had scaffolding up on that April 2021 visit and we popped back a few months later to find the scaffolding gone and the church open to visitors.
A little historical guide to the church that I saw on the internet stated that Great and Little Massingham were separate parishes at the time of the Domesday Survey and that it is suspected that there was a church here in Saxon times. I checked both Great and Little Massingham on the Domesday Survey website and neither had a church listed.
The official listing states that the church here dates from the 14th and 15th centuries, with much here dating from the 15th century, with much Victorian restoration. The church of St Andrew consists of west tower, nave with north and south aisles and clerestories, south porch and chancel.
This is a church of pleasing dimensions; with the south porch being ornately carved. The south clerestory wall is distinctive, being made with red Hunstanton chalk. Evidence of the pre clerestory roofline can be seen on the east wall of the nave. To be fair, the rendered chancel could not be seen as a thing of great beauty but this is a good honest small village church!
Moving inside, there are three bay arcades to north and south, with octagonal piers and capitals. The church shows the work of the restorers throughout with Victorian pews and the pulpit dated 1857 by Thomas Jeckyl. The carved reredos covers three walls of the chancel.
In the south aisle there is a piscina with ogee head with a hagioscope; a squint which allows those at the altar at the east end of the south aisle to keep track on what is going on at the high altar. There is no stained glass here.
Both of the churches here are part of the GGM Benefice of churches, which contains 10 churches; which for the most part of open and welcoming to visitors out of service times. A page in this Norfolk section titled 'Great Massingham Benefice' looks at a few more churches in this benefice. The churches in the Massinghams are each well worth a visit and the wider area would prove entertaining and rewarding for those interested.
