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The deserted medieval village of Bixley

The parish of Bixley is located to the south-east of Norwich. Its name is derived from the Old English term for box wood grove. Three villages existed within the parish in medieval times: Bixley, Arminghall and Belhaw, each with its own church. Of the three, only Arminghall has survived.

Not much is known about the village of Bixley, which spread out between the church of St Wandregesilius, then a small chapel, in the north and Bixley Hall, further to the south. In what today is a large sheep pasture, a number of earthworks can still be discerned in the vicinity of the church and several house and building platforms, ponds and banked and ditched boundaries have been identified. One of the holloways runs parallel to the old course of the Norwich to Bungay Road and another extends south-westwards from the church. At least four of the ponds were expanded for clay and gravel extraction.

The Bixley Estate is currently owned by the Colman family. Bixley Hall was built by the Ward family who settled there in the mid sixteenth century and lived here for 200 years. By the 19th century the house had become so dilapidated that it had to be pulled down. Today only a few walls - see Link and Link - remain on the moated site situated about one kilometre to the south-east of the village church.

The medieval chapel which until the 16th century stood at the location of the current church, dedicated to St Wandregesilius, was situated on a pilgrim route and contained an important statue of the saint. The current church dates from the 1860s, with the only part originating from the old chapel being the body of the tower. The church stands at the end of a track turning off the busy B1332 (Norwich Road). The historian Arthur Mee describes a simple screen with tracery above bays open to the floor and memorials to the Wards, one of Bixley's old families, and he mentions an Elizabethan monument depicting a sculptured group in prayer. All this went up in smoke in May 2004, when the church was destroyed by a fire, believed to have been started deliberately. 15 years later, nothing seems to have come of the plans for rebuilding the church.

by Evelyn Simak

Created: Sun, 8 Mar 2015, Updated: Tue, 3 Aug 2021


65 images use this description. Preview sample shown below:

TG2504 : St Wandregesilius, Bixley by Evelyn Simak
TG2604 : Remains of an old iron fence, Arminghall by Evelyn Simak
TG2504 : St Wandregesilius, Bixley by Evelyn Simak
TG2504 : Secret cupboard under the stairs at Bixley church by Adrian S Pye
TG2504 : St Wandregesilius, Bixley by Evelyn Simak
TG2504 : The site of Bixley village by Evelyn Simak
TG2504 : Path across the site of the medieval village of Bixley by Evelyn Simak
TG2504 : The site of Bixley village by Evelyn Simak
TG2504 : St Wandregesilius, Bixley by Evelyn Simak
TG2504 : The site of Bixley village by Evelyn Simak
TG2504 : The site of Bixley village by Evelyn Simak
TG2504 : Looking up the tower of Bixley church by Adrian S Pye
TG2504 : The site of Bixley village by Evelyn Simak
TG2504 : St Wandregesilius, Bixley (churchyard) by Evelyn Simak
TG2504 : St Wandregesilius, Bixley by Evelyn Simak
TG2504 : St Wandregesilius, Bixley by Evelyn Simak
TG2504 : The site of Bixley village by Evelyn Simak
TG2504 : The site of Bixley village by Evelyn Simak
TG2604 : Remains of an old brick wall, Arminghall by Evelyn Simak
TG2504 : St Wandregesilius, Bixley by Evelyn Simak
TG2504 : St Wandregesilius, Bixley by Evelyn Simak
TG2504 : The east end of Bixley church from the west end of the nave by Adrian S Pye
TG2604 : Moated site, Arminghall by Evelyn Simak
TG2604 : Old bricks and foundation walls, Arminghall by Evelyn Simak
TG2504 : Scrubby corner of a meadow near Bixley church by Adrian S Pye

... and 40 more images.

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