Church Street, Brisley,

Church Street, Brisley, NR20 5AA

St. Bartholomew's is a grade I listed building. The Church has retained most of its original features. It is in the perpendicular style and looks like a small cathedral towering over the countryside. The church contains good examples of 13th and 14th century wall paintings, including the haunting face of St Bartholomew, the stooped body of St. Christopher (dated c1360) and the unusual survival of St Andrew carrying his cross (dated c1360).Another slightly later painting of St. Christopher is over the north door. There are various box pews dating to 1500. Bench end carvings. A 14c Rood Screen. Two 14c Piscina's, one in what was once a side chapel and one in the chancel is set in a perpendicular triple sedilia-cum-piscina with cusped and crocketted ogee arches with fleurons on quatrefoil supports, with panel traceried spandrels with an embattled top course.. In the chancel is a famous brass, depicting Priest John Athowe. It is right on the very eve of the Reformation, 1531, and would be one of the last of its kind in England. It shows him wearing Mass vestments and holding an ornate chalice with the host rising from it. The church contains a three-decker pulpit. The pulpit with associated desk is an enlargement of the fifteenth century hexagon. It contains late 15th century panelled desks and shelves. The font is typical of the 14th century being quite plain and having eight sides (octagonal). The altar is at the back of the chancel. It is a plain wooden table and stands in front of a reredos which depicts the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments written on large wooden boards. The painted canvas Decalogue text on the reredos is probably c.1850. The East window is Victorian. The West window is plain glass with fragments of medieval class at the base. The crypt is thought to have originally been used to store bones, often called a charnel house. In the 19th century prisoners were lodged in the crypt on their way to the Assizes in Norwich.

Opening Arrangements

10 am to 5 p.m Every day of the year.

Parking Spaces

5