Details
TL 40 NE,
4/35
NORTH WEALD BASSETT,
VICARAGE LANE,
Parish Church of St. Andrew
20.02.67
GV
II*
Parish church, built c.1330, repaired after fire 1965, with W tower c.1500.
Flint rubble with some admixture of brick and freestone, and dressings of
limestone and clunch, roofed with handmade red clay tiles. Tower of red brick,
English bond. Consists of nave with S. chapel and S. aisle, chancel, N vestry
and W tower. Chancel and vestry rebuilt in 1867, with major repairs in 1965.
The nave has three C19 windows in the N wall, the middle one with a substantial
area of C14 glass, mainly tabernacle work. Between the two western windows is
the N doorway, with chamfered jambs, 2-centred arch and moulded label, C14.
The door is probable original, vertical boards on the outside with ornamental
iron hinges of stylised C-form, C13/14, reported by the RCHM to be battened
on the inside but now blocked by plaster. The S arcade consists of five 2-centred
arches, the middle one narrower than the others, with two chamfered orders, on
octagonal columns, with moulded capitals and responds and hollow-chamfered
bases. The S chapel has a gable end with C14 window, restored, of three trefoiled
ogee lights with tracery in a 2-centred head; the splays and rear arch are
moulded with internal label and C20 headstops. The S wall has two C14 windows,
restored, each of two trefoiled ogee lights with tracery in. a 2-centred head with
moulded labels and wrought-iron grids; the eastern window forms a stepped
sedile. The wall has a piscina with trefoiled head and sexfoiled drain, C14.
The W wall of the chapel has a 2-centred arch of two chamfered orders opening
into the S aisle. The aisle has one window, mainly C19, and the S doorway,
with double-chamfered jambs and 2-centred head with moulded label. The W tower
is square with diagonal buttresses, entirely c.1500 except some modern repairs.
The tower-arch is 2-centred with four orders, moulded and plain; the responds each
have 2 shafts with continuous moulded capitals and spreading bases. The W
window is C19 except for the splays and rear. arch. The W doorway has double-
chamfered jambs and a 2-centred arch of stone with moulded brick label. In
the SW angle is a winding stair with chamfered doorway and Tudor arch,
containing the original door with studded battens and strap-hinges. The tower
is built in four stages, of which the second and third constitute a priest's
lodging. The second stage has a single-light window with 3-centred arch in
the W and S walls, and in the N wall a fireplace with 4-centred brick head, the
chimney not visible externally. The third stage has a similar window in each
wall. It now contains the bells, but originally they occupied the fourth stage,
undivided externally from the third stage, with a window in each wall of two 4-
centred lights under a 4-centred head. There is a band of diaper work in blue
flared headers on the S side of the fourth stage, and an indistinct pattern of
headers lower down. There is an embattled parapet on a corbel-table of small
segmental arches. Most of the floor structures are original. The roofs were
rebuilt in 1965 on the model of the C19 roofs. The nave contains floor slabs
(1) to John Searle of Wheelers, 1665, and Mary, his wife, 1676, in limestone (2)
to Thomas Arrowsmith, Vicar of the parish, 1705-6 and Margaret his wife, 1702,
in black marble with a shield of arms (3) to Rev. Mr. Biscoe (no Christian name
known) 1745, in black marble with a shield of arms (4) to Mr. John Burrell,
1805, and Anna Manning Burrell, 1809, in black marble. There is a brass in the
blocked N doorway to Walter Larder, 1606 (the last 2 digits broken off) and
Marie (Nicholls) his wife, 3 sons and 2 daughters, with figures of man, woman
and children in civil dress and shield of arms. There are 6 bells, the third by
John Waylett, 1712, the fifth by Anthony Bartlet, 1673 . The chancel screen
recorded by the RCHM was removed after the fire of 1964 to a church in the
diocese of Norwich. Medieval paintings on the N wall immediately W of the
blocked N door were uncovered in 1964, considerably damaged, and were re-covered
(report by Clive Rouse, 22 December 1964, in NMR).
Listing NGR: TL4954905187
