GeoGraph - photograph every grid square

St Mary's church

Originally a cruciform-shaped church, the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary dates from Saxon times, when St Edmund spent a year with priests at Attleborough before his coronation in 856. The church was partitioned off at the chancel for the use of a college of five priests in 1386. At the dissolution of the monasteries the college was closed and the chancel demolished. Consecration crosses survive from the original date of the building and there is a fragmented wall painting depicting St Christopher above the south doorway. The rood screen, with rood loft above, extends across both aisles and tower arch dates from 1475 and depicts St John the Baptist, St Mary, St John the Evangelist, St Thomas a Becket, the Holy Trinity and St Bartholomew. The shields of the 24 bishoprics above were added later. The large wall painting above the screen was created for the college of priests around 1500. The two Norman windows were reopened and embellished with pseudo-Norman stonework in 1844.