Carbrooke Church Tour

Welcome to Carbrooke Church web tour.

This brief description and history of the exterior and interior of the building featuring items of interest cannot do the building justice, so, having viewed, we invite you to visit in person.

The church is open daily 10am – 4pm

Sunday services are held at 10.30am

The church is available for Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals.

Carbrooke Church is a beacon in the village, it is built on the only ‘hill’ in the area with a 99′ tower.

Originally there were two churches, Carbrooke Magna and Carbrooke Parva. This is the site of Carbrooke Magna. Carbrooke Parva was located left of the bridge on the Ovington Road at Caudle Springs. Carbrooke Parva, (probably a plague village), and stopped being used around 1424 when the priest resigned and it is recorded as having fallen down shortly after this date. The stone was removed to the current site where Carbrooke Magna was extended. The road connecting Carbrooke Magna and Carbrooke Parva is now known as Drury Lane after the Vicar Peter Drury who used the route to travel between the two Churches.

Find a Glossary of terms here.

Carbrooke Church consists of a Chancel, Nave, north and south aisles, north and south porches and Tower. The majority of the church with a few exceptions is of the Perpendicular period.

At first sight it appears to be a typical 15th century perpendicular church – and it was indeed largely rebuilt during the 15th century, but in fact it was given, along with other lands, by Matilda, Countess of Clare to the Knights Hospitallers, when their order was founded in Carbrooke in 1193. Their Commandery (the only one in Norfolk) was built on what is now sheep-filled pasture-land to the south.

There are several features in the church which date from the early 13th century. There is some speculation that the original church (before its extension and the addition of the nave in 15th Century) may have had a round tower, possibly with Saxon origins, but any evidence for this is almost completely obscured, the Chancel being the oldest part of the church. It was perhaps at this time that it was dedicated to ‘St Peter and Paul’.

The Commanderie was dissolved in 1540, by Henry viii when he cut his links with Rome. The building then became the village parish church.

For more details on the Commanderie, and The Knights Hospitallers, see the two booklets ‘Carbrooke and the Commanderie of the Knights Hospitallers’ and ‘The Knights Hospitallers, Who Were They?’ produced by Carbrooke Heritage Project.

THE COMMANDERIE extended over the field where the school now stands and the field behind the Church. When the foundations for the new school building were being dug, (c1995) a team from the Norfolk Archaeological unit held an investigation and made some fascinating finds, unfortunately it was not possible to leave the remains on show, so the foundations were re-covered and the school built on top. It was very interesting for the children to get a first hand experience of Archaeology.

• Look for building remains in the fields behind. Only faint crop marks reveal the site of the Carbrooke Commandery which was just south of the church. The Knights Hospitallers collected alms for the care and shelter of pilgrims to Jerusalem and military duties arose from this. The modern St. John’s Ambulance Brigade is their direct descendant and uses the same cross on their badge.

Although the church looks to be in pretty good repair, the Quinqennial inspections show that the tower is in serious need of repair, along with the roof and windows, and is expected to cost in excess of £200,000.

Touring the churchyard

• Starting by the gate.
• War Memorial for both WW1&WW2 Commonwealth War Grave site

• Graveyard is still in use, and has been mapped and logged by members of Carbrooke Heritage Group.

• The village Christmas tree provided by Carbrooke Parish Council, is located by the gate during December.

• The South porch is of a very late date compared with the rest of the nave, possibly late 15th Century. Notice its knapped flint work and how the outer doorway is almost Tudor in shape. The porch shelters the late 14th Century doorway into the church, which was designed by an architect who also designed the towers of the neighbouring churches at Ashill, Caston and Thompson.

• The South doorway is a beautiful ogee arch of the decorated period and has peculiar chamfer terminations. The heads which finish the dripstone are modern.

• Continue past the south porch into the churchyard.

• The south side of the nave continues the work of the architect who designed the tower. There are fine perpendicular windows for both aisles and clerestory. The plain parapet to the roof here is not repeated on the other side.

The Chancel is believed to be the original church, the Nave being added in 15th Century.

• The chancel North and South windows are roughly the same period as the nave, but this tracery shows a different design which is by another architect whose work can be seen at Litcham, and Kings Lynn St. Nicholas. Here the windows are definitely inserted into earlier chancel walls, because the Priest’s door has one chamfer and is 13th century (Early English).

Continue around the back of the church, past the East end and stained glass window then around the north side of the building.

• Look for bricked up door to North Porch/vestry. Perhaps at one time the main entrance. A faint pathway, leads from the north west corner of the church yard to this doorway.

• The North porch is now used as a toilet, so it is entered from inside the church.
• The tower, north porch and nave all have a special string basecourse running around them which marks the work of one architect who also worked at Norwich St. Giles, Blickling and Barton Turf during the first half of the 15th century

• Walk round tower – look for cracks (caused by lightning strikes in 1950’s) that have been repaired. The tower is 99 feet high with a fine West doorway which has a frieze of shields, quatrefoils and heads with their tongues out. These heads are intended to send evil away from the building. Above this fine door way is a large four light window which was added later and is not part of the original composition. Halfway up the tower are some fine ‘sound holes’ with tracery and shields. Then there are large three light belfry windows, and at the top we see a shallow battlemented parapet, perhaps rather mean for such a fine tower. George Crabbe writing in 1865 notes that “the ill-proportioned tower formerly had a short spire”.

• The West window is showing signs of decay, a campaign is beginning, to raise funds for repair (November 2024)

• Enter the church by the south porch the doorway may have come from the church of Carbrooke Parva.

• To the right is a display case, which during the Christmas season, houses Carbrooke’s unique nativity set.

• A framed list of all those who have served as vicar (or Commander) of Carbrooke, dedicated to the memory of Church Warden and organist Nora Wace, is hung from the first stone pillar inside the church.

• Throughout the church, members of the congregation have provided ‘Teddies’ for the ‘Teddy Trail’, featuring various aspects of church and village life past and present. Along the south wall is ‘Santa’s Workshop’ and ‘The Village School.’

• South Aisle 3 tombstones in floor of aisle with brasses removed
• The south side of the nave continues the work of the architect who designed the tower. There are fine perpendicular windows for both aisles and clerestory. It seems likely that this architect remodelled the existing walls because the South door and South aisle piscina are much older.

• The south aisle Lady Chapel is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
• Crucifix on the altar is a figure of Christ Triumphant on an Oak Cross, given in thanksgiving for the recovery of John Ware in 1936.

• The Lady chapel has an ogee headed piscina, notch heads and finial contemporary with the 14th century South doorway. They may have come from the church of Carbrooke Parva of which nothing remains today.

• The stone altar or mensa is also medieval, it is one of 3 stone altars with consecration crosses. The oak support was made by the local craftsman Mr Cecil Smith. On this altar is placed a heavy ancient Bible. The light cotton altar frontal used here ‘The Tree of Life’ was designed and painted by local artist friends of Father George Chambers – John Murray-Smith and his wife. Plaster wall-plaques and other artwork were also created by them in the early 1930s.

• NAVE Stand in the Nave, and look at the Chancel arch, which like that of the tower, is beautifully proportioned.

• Medieval Painting High on the clerestory wall on the east side of the Nave, is evidence of the medieval painting that must have covered much of the wall space at one time.

• Bottom door to Rood Loft (Only the stairs now remain in Carbrooke)

• A notable feature of this church is the three tiers of canopied and battlemented niches on each side of the chancel arch. The only other church with this feature is St. Giles, Norwich. There is a fine three light window above the chancel arch.

• ROOD SCREEN. The fine rood screen dates from the 15th century and is a fine and rich specimen of Perpendicular style work; Particularly interesting and unusual is the carved frieze near the top showing the instruments of Our Lord’s Passion, – nails, hammer with pincers, scourge, seamless robe, dice, etc. Also there are the insignia of the patron saints, St. Peter and St. Paul. The screen was restored in the 19th Century and sadly lost the paintings of Saints and angels on the lower panels along with the colouring of the nave roof. The top Tudor-pattern moulding is more modern. The rood was the cross of Christ often flanked by the figures of the Virgin Mary and St. John. It could be found in many places in the church but was often found on a beam (the rood beam) across the chancel arch. These were almost all lost at the time of the reformation. In Carbrooke only the turret steps to the rood loft, upper doorway and the rood screen remain as evidence. Note the two small platforms or brackets, one either side of the centre ogee arch of the Rood Screen, that would once have held statues of St Peter and Paul.

• The sense of space, beauty and loftiness is most striking and it effectively spoke to the people of 15 century Carbrooke of the greatness of God. The nave has five bays of soaring 15th century arcades on each side with a clerestory above. (Clerestory or clear storey: the Nave roof is higher than the aisle roofs and projects above. The walls of this projection form the ‘clerestory’ and the windows are the clerestory windows).

• Carbrooke Church Angel Roof. The nave roof timbers are largely original 15th century. It is arch braced, enriched with large bosses of floral designs at the intersections. (Bosses = carved projections often of symbolic devices. The ones here are floral designs; those in Norwich Cathedral nave are especially interesting.) Note the false hammer beams at the base of the arches in the form of angels. They are termed ‘false’ in the sense that the beams project from the walls, but do not in any way support the roof. The wall posts rest on smaller projecting wooden figures, and there is a decorative cornice. According to Francis Blomefield, writing in around 1740 the roof was adorned with images of our Saviour and his Apostles which were demolished at the time of the civil war. According to George Crabbe the winged angels holding shields are copies of one (the eastern most North side) that remained. The corbels supporting the principals are carved into figures, most of these as also most of the bosses of the roof are copied from the old ones that remained. Angels were very important to the medieval congregations as they represented music and were guardian figures. In Carbrooke we are very well guarded by the angels with three rows of carved and stone angels in the nave alone.

• The arch way leading to the tower is one of the best features of the church but is often not noticed as visitors look from the west to the east. It pays to stand back in the centre of the nave to appreciate its very fine proportions of this arch, reaching up as it does to within a few feet of the nave roof.

• There is a ringers’ gallery with nice balustrading from the late 18th century, and an original door to the belfry stairs is still in position. The Royal Arms are late Hanoverian from the period 1816-37, carved on wood and coloured.

• The six bells despite being hung very high in the tower are still rung regularly. The treble is by John Warner of London, 1914, The 2nd and 3rd by Robert Gurney of Bury, 1669, 4th and 5th by Brasyer of Norwich 1450-1513, tenor by Edward Tooke of Norwich, 1678. The 5th bell has five errors in its Latin inscription, which is very strange for such a capable bell founder but indicates it might have been done by an apprentice.

• Beneath the ringers gallery a bequest from a parishioner allowed us to install a modern heating system in 1996. At first it was so efficient that it blew the candles out on the nave altar, but now it is showing its age, and frequently breaks down.

• Carbrooke Parish Armour. (to be continued)

• As in many parish churches, the Carbrooke lectern is in the form of a carved wooden eagle.

• Pulpit Restored by Mr Weiring, who removed the old top and put a Gothic type top onto the Georgian bulbous base.

• SEATING – POPPY HEAD PEWS – Prior to the 15th century, the congregation stood in the nave for worship. Then simple wooden benches were introduced and these were later embellished with carved bench-ends and poppy head finials. We are not certain of the date of the pews at Carbrooke, but the quality of the carving indicates that they are quite early.

• There is an interesting variety of carved animals and figures -each one having a symbolic meaning. The poppy heads are the carved termination of the pews which usually take the form, as in Carbrooke church, of a trefoil of close-knit foliage. Many such carvings were destroyed during the Civil War but fortunately those in Carbrooke escaped.
• OLD CHESTS One 15th Century chest, others more recent. Antique oak chest by organ given by Mr Chambers. Large oak chest near vestry door possibly made by Mr Dewing and over 150 years old.

• Art Work – War memorial: There is a framed list of those who served during the First World War

North Aisle –

• St John the Baptist’s Chapel – third of the three stone altars. The altar in the North aisle is one of three medieval altar stones or mensa (table), abolished during the Reformation but found under the step of the chancel doors and restored to its former position circa 1908. It is inscribed with five crosses to symbolise the sacred wounds of Christ which would have been incensed and anointed when the altar was consecrated. After the Reformation many altars were replaced with simple communion tables and the focus of the church was shifted to the pulpit. There is historical evidence that in the 15th Century there was a chapel here dedicated to St. John the Baptist, who was important to the Hospitallers.
• Oak Aumbry corner cupboard given by Mrs Chambers.
• Wooden Altar This wooden altar table made by the village carpenter and was used as the main altar at the east end of the church until the medieval stone altar was discovered buried in the churchyard. Now it is used, when services are held in the Nave.

• The north porch was used for a very long time as the vestry (where the priest dons his or her vestments or robes), and later as a Sunday School room. It was converted to a toilet around 2016, due to it being the most convenient place in the building to locate one. The north door has been bricked up and it can only be entered from the church. It has a remarkable tierceron star-vaulted ceiling which supports a small room above.

• The Priest’s Room, NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC – reached by a turret staircase which matches the rood loft stairs. They have the same quatrefoil opening and were built at the same time as the nave and tower in the early 15th century.

• ORGAN The Victorian organ was originally placed at the east end of the south aisle (where the Lady Chapel now stands) and was moved probably in the 1920’s to the west end of the north aisle. It has a very good tone but perhaps lacks the power needed for such a large church. The casing is much larger than the organ requires and was probably added when the organ was moved.

• CHANCEL Weekly Sunday services church are held in the Chancel, a beautiful light and airy space. From about 1988 members of congregation were invited to ‘donate’ a chair, which are used now, rather than the traditional pews.

• This area creates a more informal atmosphere in which we can meet together. The chancel North and South windows are roughly the same period as the nave, but this tracery shows a different design which is by another architect whose work can be seen at Litcham, and Lynn St. Nicholas. Here the windows are definitely inserted into earlier chancel walls, because the Priest’s door (on the south side) has one chamfer and is 13th century (Early English 1190-1280).

• The East window is really beautiful, dating from about 1300 (Decorated style). It has five lights with cusped (pointed) intersected tracery and a quatrefoiled circle (divided in four) flanked by two smaller circles with trefoils (three divisions, which makes a lovely and unusual composition. Notice the Early English shafting and internal arch to this window. George Crabbe suggests it might have been brought from some other church in the early 1800’s. The stained glass in this window is of the 20th century commemorating Judith Chamberlain, who died in 1910, aged 26. The mystery of Judith Chamberlain and the East window. This is another part of the church where angels feature.
• Tombstones for Alpe and Feverall

• Priests door in South wall.

• 2-seat Sedilia, 13th century double sedilia, which has circular shafts and moulded pointed arches. Notice the carved heads on it which are popularly thought to represent Matilda and her son.
• Clamshell Piscina is set into a window sill next to the double sedilia.

• Main altar – second of 3 stone altars with consecration crosses. The altar stone is the original medieval one which was dug up in the churchyard. Like the one in the N. aisle it has the usual five consecration crosses and it has chamfered edges. It was reconciled for use again as the High Altar on Easter Sunday in April 1954.

• The panelling in the sanctuary, behind the altar and curtains, is made from old pew ends and came from Thaxted in Essex.
• An ‘All-seasons’ frontal was made by the church needle craft group and dedicated for use in 1996.

• Wall Hanging (to be continued).

• Kneelers The pews are furnished with brightly coloured cushions for those who wish to kneel for prayer. Most have these have been made by parishioners and friends of the church since 1997 as part of a major replacement programme.
• Note names of craftsmen etched on plain glass in other windows (1740 to 1828)
• Brass Aumbry on wall in sanctuary in memory of Father George in the corner of the Sanctuary (the easternmost part of the chancel beyond the altar rail) is the aumbry, the cupboard in the wall where the altar vessels, and sometimes the sacraments (the bread and wine) were kept. This one is not old but was added in memory of Father George Chambers.

• Tombs of Matilda and son James in front of altar steps (links with Hospitallers). Just before the altar rails are the earliest identifiable tomb slabs in Norfolk. They both bear a cross rising from a stem surmounted by a knob, and have a Latin inscription which may be translated: “Here lies buried a mother of the family of Clare by a soldier of which (family) England boasts herself renowned”And “A son rests interred at the right hand of his mother. Returning to his own birth he has sought this harbour”. These date from the early 13th century and are presumed to refer to Maltilda and her son. Matilda was the widow of Roger, Earl of Clare, who founded the Commandery here about 1193. She had two sons, Richard and James; the former is believed to have been buried at Clare, so it is probably James who is buried here, and is popularly supposed to be represented in the carving on the sedilia.

• Central Aisle – the floor (under the Nave carpet) contains many interesting memorial slabs, some with indents from former brasses. There are a number of interesting tombs to be found throughout the church, some of which clearly originally had brasses attached. The finest brasses date from the 14th century, but in many churches were destroyed either at the Reformation or during the Civil War.
• Along each side of the aisle were gratings, which housed the solid fuel heating system which worked off a boiler in the past.

• FONT – (free-standing basin for baptism) has shallow decorated tracery designs on its bowl typical of the 14th century. It stands centrally at the west end of the church, but in many churches is much nearer the door, symbolising that baptism effects entry to the church. It probably was closer to the door, but has been moved at some time.

• Painting of King David hangs by the tower arch shows King David playing a harp. It dates from 1747 and until the Victorian restoration it hung over a large pew for singers on the N. side of the church. It was restored by Mr Kennedy North at some time in the past, and again in 2016? by the kind arrangement of David Turner.

• The large west door or processional door into church under the tower, would also have enabled knights to ride into the building on horseback. Today it is rarely used.

• The space under the tower is used as a vestry and kitchen.
• Note Stone coffin under ringing platform possibly base of stone in floor?Original tower door leading to Ringers Gallery and roof.
• Church Tower – NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC – Offers amazing views over the village.

In 2022 Carbrooke Heritage Group in conjunction with Nimble Norfolk produced a film on the heritage of Carbrooke, below is a ‘taster’ for the church part of the film.

And this link to the 45-minute film ‘ Carbrooke in the Past‘.

---

We are a small congregation, charged with maintaining a magnificent historical building and Christian presence in Carbrooke for the future.

If you would like to help us by leaving a donation please use the QR code below (through PayPal). Should you wish to have your donation earmarked to a specific project, please let us know.

Thank you!

Last updated 01.12.2024