St Peter Mancroft
Let’s head back to the summer of 2020, and instead of thinking of all the bad stuff that happened back then, let’s climb a church instead.
St Peter Mancroft sits in the centre of Norwich, right next to the market. Aside from the two cathedrals (one Anglican, one Roman Catholic), she’s the biggest church in Norwich. Which is even more impressive when you consider that, it is said, that in Norwich in the middle ages you would have been able to go to a different church every Sunday for a full year without ever repeating a church.
Being built in the 1400’s she’s absolutely full of windows, many of which are glazed with clear glass, and all this light makes the space feel so bright and graceful.
Projecting out to the north and south are two small side chapels, truncated reminders of the traditional cruciform plan of large churches and cathedrals:
But you didn’t come here to only see the bits any old visitor can see, so let’s go on an adventure…
The adventure begins with a descent. Through this door is a three or four foot drop before the old staircase begins. Where does the staircase go? The ancient crypt, sat within the old Norman foundations of the original church. The crypt is now blocked off, behind a half-wall, behind which countless great wooden shelves hold up ranks of old black coffins, stretching out beyond the reach of my torch light. I didn’t take photos down here, as the coffins themselves have been damaged by ancient collapses, and the bones of the dead have poured out of long-smashed coffins to litter the rubble-strewn floor.
After descending, to the depths, however, we must climb up.
First, to the bell ringing chamber, which has a new glass wall, through which you can see Mancroft’s exquisite hammer-beam roof, with rows of carved angels on each side.
The line which divides the nave and chancel is clear from the ground, with the altar rails, and the great steps leading up to the altar - up here, it is marked by gilded roof bosses, and extra angels.
Inside the ringing chamber itself is the great west window of the church, with it’s sunset of stained glass - a perfect collision of the modern and the historic
And above our heads, the great wooden roof, through which the bell ropes snake into the bell chamber.
We aren’t allowed in the bell chamber though, as the bells were up, which means no humans are allowed in the chamber, lest a few tonnes of metal slips, swings, and bludgeons you to death with a loud BONG.
So instead, up the staircase, where the construction of the church is made plain. Passing, on our way, old graffiti, and lots of charming little windows which let the light filter in.
Then out, onto the top of the tower, where the city spreads out below us, the cathedral, the castle, the colourful market. Life, bustling all around.
Up here we can also get close and personal with St Peter Mancroft’s “hat”, which is properly known as a flèche, a small mini-spire, or spike, often made of lead. This one is particularly fancy, and was added in 1845.
This is just lead coated wood, no stone or masonry up here, and I played with the exposure on my camera so you could get a glimpse of the inner workings of the thing, with wooden beams radiating outwards from a central column, helping it keep its shape:
One last look around (can you spot the Roman Catholic Cathedral in the distance there?), and then back down…
A simple climb, as there’s few hidden spaces in a church of this style, but a fun one nevertheless.