Fishley, Norfolk - St Mary
Fishley was once a Saxon hamlet. The parish church is situated in an isolated, elevated position, surrounded by trees among open fields between the villages of Acle and Upton. The church is reached by a track branching off from a main road.
St Mary’s tower is probably Norman with the rest of the church being essentially a late 13th. century rebuild, thanks to Sir John de Veile who became Lord of the Manor of Fishley sometime in the late 12th. century and appears to have been the most generous of benefactors to the parish.
Over the years, ever since the 13th. century rebuild in fact, very little was done to St. Mary’s as far as maintenance of the building was concerned and by 1836 Fishley was considered to be a ‘decayed parish’. Nine years later, it had reached the point of being referred to as ‘dishevelled’.
in 1859, the Fishley Estate was bequeathed to Miss Sophia Catherine Edwards of Hardingham Hall, near Wymondham, Norfolk.
Sophia Edwards proved to be a generous benefactress at Fishley, completing much there which had been left undone by her predecessors. Her benevolence to the parish included the extensive restoration and repairs to St. Mary’s in 1861, which were largely carried out to the designs of her cousin, the amateur architect Revd. John Barham Johnson, Rector of Welbourne, Norfolk.
In 1875 Sophia Edwards also financed the building of a new rectory on the outskirts of Acle, and also funded the building of Upton School.
During the 1861 restoration with the exception of a heavily restored piscina in the chancel south wall and a grave marking ledgestone in the middle of the nave, all of the original internal fixtures and fittings were removed from the church. Amongst the removed items were two 13th. century lidded stone coffins and the fragments of a third coffin lid. The coffins were reverently placed in the churchyard to the south of the nave and they were not rediscovered until 2010. Whether or not the two stone coffins contained skeletons was not recorded in 1961. Furthermore, no record was made of the positions occupied by the coffins when they were in the church, it is not known if the items were visible in the building or were discovered below ground when preparations were made for laying the new tiled floor. The fragmentary coffin lid, made of Purbeck marble and with double chamfer mouldings, was returned to the church in 2010 and now stands within a niche in the south wall of the chancel.
St. Mary's gained Grade: II* listed building status on 25th. September 1962. (English Heritage Legacy ID: 228657).
Fishley, Norfolk - St Mary
Fishley was once a Saxon hamlet. The parish church is situated in an isolated, elevated position, surrounded by trees among open fields between the villages of Acle and Upton. The church is reached by a track branching off from a main road.
St Mary’s tower is probably Norman with the rest of the church being essentially a late 13th. century rebuild, thanks to Sir John de Veile who became Lord of the Manor of Fishley sometime in the late 12th. century and appears to have been the most generous of benefactors to the parish.
Over the years, ever since the 13th. century rebuild in fact, very little was done to St. Mary’s as far as maintenance of the building was concerned and by 1836 Fishley was considered to be a ‘decayed parish’. Nine years later, it had reached the point of being referred to as ‘dishevelled’.
in 1859, the Fishley Estate was bequeathed to Miss Sophia Catherine Edwards of Hardingham Hall, near Wymondham, Norfolk.
Sophia Edwards proved to be a generous benefactress at Fishley, completing much there which had been left undone by her predecessors. Her benevolence to the parish included the extensive restoration and repairs to St. Mary’s in 1861, which were largely carried out to the designs of her cousin, the amateur architect Revd. John Barham Johnson, Rector of Welbourne, Norfolk.
In 1875 Sophia Edwards also financed the building of a new rectory on the outskirts of Acle, and also funded the building of Upton School.
During the 1861 restoration with the exception of a heavily restored piscina in the chancel south wall and a grave marking ledgestone in the middle of the nave, all of the original internal fixtures and fittings were removed from the church. Amongst the removed items were two 13th. century lidded stone coffins and the fragments of a third coffin lid. The coffins were reverently placed in the churchyard to the south of the nave and they were not rediscovered until 2010. Whether or not the two stone coffins contained skeletons was not recorded in 1961. Furthermore, no record was made of the positions occupied by the coffins when they were in the church, it is not known if the items were visible in the building or were discovered below ground when preparations were made for laying the new tiled floor. The fragmentary coffin lid, made of Purbeck marble and with double chamfer mouldings, was returned to the church in 2010 and now stands within a niche in the south wall of the chancel.
St. Mary's gained Grade: II* listed building status on 25th. September 1962. (English Heritage Legacy ID: 228657).