A Comprehensive History of Norwich

by A. D. Bayne

St. John Sepulchre.

St. John Sepulchre is a large church at the top of Ber Street, dedicated to St. John the Baptist and the Holy Sepulchre, and founded in the reign of Edward the Confessor. It consists of a nave, chancel, a sort of transept chapel on each side, and a lofty tower with five bells and a clock. The font is octagonal and is ornamented with angels, lions, &c. The east window is of three lights filled with stained glass, the centre light presenting a figure of St. John the Baptist. The window is in memory of the Rev. Samuel Stone, M.A., incumbent of this parish, who was a great friend of the poor, and died in 1848. Here is a fine mural monument of the Watts family. The rood-stair turret still remains, and in the south side of the chancel is a fine consecration cross. The living is a perpetual curacy, certified at £9 1s., and now valued at £144. It was augmented from 1737 to 1812 with £1600 of royal bounty. The Dean and Chapter are patrons. The Rev. W. T. Moore, incumbent.

St. Michael at Thorn.

This part of the city includes the parish of St. Michael at Thorn, so called from the “thorns” formerly growing in the neighbourhood, of which there is one now in the churchyard. The Rev. A. Davies is incumbent of the parish. The church is remarkable for its antiquity.

All Saints.

At the bottom of Ber Street we may turn to the left into the parish of All Saints, where the church stands in an open space called All Saints’ Green. The church is a small structure, having a nave, chancel, porch, and tower containing three bells. The chancel contains some decorated windows, but the other portions of the church are perpendicular. The east window is modern and filled with poor stained glass, but there are some fragments of ancient stained glass, containing heads of bishops, &c., in the windows of the aisles. The font is octagonal and in the perpendicular style. There are three monuments with merchant’s marks upon them. The rectory, valued in K.B. at £3 14s. 7d., is consolidated with St. Julian, valued in K.B. at £5. The joint benefices are now worth £300 per annum. They were augmented with £300 of Queen Anne’s bounty in 1769 and 1810, and with £200 given by John Drinkwater, Esq., and £500 given by S. Thornton, Esq., in 1800. The Rev. C. F. Sculthorpe, M.A., is patron, and the Rev. G. S. Outram is incumbent.

St. John Timberhill.

St. John’s Timberhill, at the north end of Ber Street, was founded soon after the priory of Norwich, to which it was appropriated, and it was dedicated to St. John the Baptist. It has a nave, chancel, south porch with parvise, and two aisles with chapels at their east ends. That on the north, a part of which is now used for the vestry, was called our Lady’s Chapel. There is a hagroscope or squint on the south side of the chancel, and near it is a small decorated piscina. The font is circular and Norman. The whole building needs restoration. The square tower fell down on August 20th, 1784, and damaged the west end of the church. Its foundations still remain, but the bells were sold to pay for the repairs. The perpetual curacy was augmented from 1738 to 1813 with £1000 of royal bounty, and valued in 1835 at £31. The Dean and Chapter are patrons. The Rev. S. Titlow, M.A., has been the incumbent since 1831.

Chapel Field.

There is yet left unnoticed a small district lying south of St. Giles’, and which is generally known as Chapel Field. Near this field once stood a college called St. Mary in the Fields, founded about the beginning of the 13th century by John Le Brun. Soon after its establishment its benefactors were so numerous that in a short time it became a very noble college, having a dean, chancellor, precentor, treasurer, seven prebendaries, and six chaplains. Miles Spencer, the last dean, persuaded the college to resign its revenues for small pensions, after he had obtained a grant of the whole for himself from Henry VIII. at the dissolution. The property afterwards passed through several hands, and the field is now the property of the corporation. It has recently been enclosed by a massive palisade, and much improved as a place of recreation; and a large Drill Hall has been built at the north-west corner for the use of the Volunteers. The Drill Hall was opened by the Prince of Wales in 1866.