Site of All Saints' Church

Reasons for Designation

A parish church is a building, usually of roughly rectangular outline and containing a range of furnishings and fittings appropriate to its use for Christian worship by a secular community, whose members gather in it on Sundays and on the occasion of religious festivals. Children are initiated into the Christian religion at the church's font and the dead are buried in its churchyard. Parish churches were designed for congregational worship and are generally divided into two main parts: the nave, which provides accommodation for the laity, and the chancel, which is the main domain of the priest and contains the principal altar. Either or both parts are sometimes provided with aisles, giving additional accommodation or spaces for additional altars. Most parish churches also possess towers, generally at the west end, but central towers at the crossing of nave and chancel are not uncommon and some churches have a free-standing or irregularly sited tower. Many parish churches also possess transepts at the crossing of chancel and nave, and south or north porches are also common. The main periods of parish church foundation were in the 10th to 11th and 19th centuries. Most medieval churches were rebuilt and modified on a number of occasions and hence the visible fabric of the church will be of several different dates, with in some cases little fabric of the first church being still easily visible. Parish churches are found throughout England. Their distribution reflects the density of population at the time they were founded. In regions of dispersed settlement parishes were often large and churches less numerous. The densest clusters of parish churches were found in thriving medieval towns. A survey of 1625 reported the existence of nearly 9000 parish churches in England. New churches built in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries increased numbers to around 18,000 of which 17,000 remain in ecclesiastical use. Parish churches have always been major features of the landscape and a major focus of life for their parishioners. They provide important insights into medieval and later population levels or economic cycles, religious activity, artistic endeavour and technical achievement. A significant number of surviving examples are identified to be nationally important.

All Saints' Church is not known to have undergone significant alteration after the 17th century, and the site has suffered little disturbance since the demolition of the ruins in the early 19th century. Although nothing of the church now stands above ground, the buried foundations and floors, with associated deposits, will retain archaeological information concerning the construction, character and use of the church during the medieval and early post-medieval periods, and further information relating to the medieval population of the parish will also be preserved in the surrounding churchyard.

Details

The monument includes the site of All Saints' Church and churchyard, situated in isolation in a field bordering the east side of Leziate Drove. The boundaries of the field, which measures approximately 60m east-west by a maximum of 47m north-south, correspond to the original boundaries of the churchyard, the level of which is raised up to 1.5m above that of the adjoining road. A linear depression along the southern side marks the site of a path. The site of the church is marked by an uneven raised area in the western half of the field and, on the evidence of these surface indications, the building was approximately 25m in length and up to 11m wide, including a nave, probably with an aisle on the north side and with a slightly narrower chancel. An inventory of the church goods made in 1368 refers to a chapel of St Thomas. A block of flint rubble masonry exposed towards the eastern end perhaps represents the base of the north side of the chancel arch, and traces of flint masonry are also visible on or near the site of the tower at the western end. A floor of tiles manufactured locally at Bawsey was observed on the site in 1803.

Leziate parish was united with the neighbouring parish of Ashwicken towards the end of the 15th century, and in the 16th century the lord of the manor, Sir Thomas Thursby, was accused of enclosing a large part of the common land and of pulling down houses and evicting tenants in the parish. A report on the church in 1602 stated that the chancel of the church had been `utterly ruynated and pulled downe' without license by the parson, Mr Bramwell, who had appropriated the lead from the roof. The church remained in use, however, and it is recorded that during the first half of the 18th century a service was held there every third Sunday, but by the end of the 18th century it was ruinous and is marked as such on a Faden's map published in 1797. According to an early 19th century description it had been in this state for a long time, and soon after this it was demolished, although it must still have been standing in 1816, when a notice relating to the perambulation of the boundaries of Rising Chace was affixed to the door.

All fences, gates, and the sheds at the eastern end of the field are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

30561

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Blomefield, F, An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk, (1805), 337ff
Bradfer-Lawrence, HL, Castle Rising, (1932), 147
Bryant, TH, The Churches of Norfolk, (1915)
Allison, K J, Norfolk Archaeology in The Lost Villages of Norfolk, Vol. 31, (1955), 136
Watkin, A, Norfolk Record Society in Inventory of Church Goods Temp Edward III, Vol. 19, (1948), 130

Other
Title: A Topographical Map of the County of Norfolk Source Date: 1797 Author: Publisher: Surveyor: reprinted Norfolk Record Soc Vol 42
Barlow, R & Smith, D, (1998)

End of official list entry

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