St Mary's, Shelton
Shelton church is one I've known from photos for some time, so I was particularly pleased to be visiting it at last. You always have certain expectations in such cases so it's always intriguing to see how they'll measure up to reality. It looks quite a grand building so imagined a more dignified approach, instead we simply pulled up by a gate on a leafy country lane and there it was!
This is clearly an above average building that has had a lot of money put into it, and sure enough its rebuilding was funded by Sir Ralph Shelton (High Sheriff of Norfolk) from the 1490s to at least the 1520s (work may well have continued up to the eve of the Reformation). This work was never finished, as witnessed by the humble west tower that clearly belonged to the previous church, and the curiously hollow south porch, where a fan-vault was obviously planned but never materialised (leaving the upper chamber without a floor).
The church is unusual in the area for showing so little flintwork, the usual building material in these parts. Aside from the tower the walls are mostly of brick and the clerestorey of stone (quite a luxury). Its proportions make the building appear larger than it is, fairly short in length owing to the lack of a structurally defined chancel, but given more height by the handsome row of clerestorey windows above.
Within the church the sense of height is maintained, the proportions again accentuating this with a fairly narrow central aisle that rises to a flat plaster ceiling (replacing the original timber one in the 18th century). The nave columns are slender and elegant, all very much in the last phase of Gothic where the ratios of stonework to glass changed dramatically. This seems a very light building in every sense.
The best original surviving features here are in the windows at the east end, with much early 16th century glass remaining, collected into the three windows of the east wall (and therefore not in situ) with more remains in the traceries of the aisle windows. Most of the larger figures are kneeling donors of the Tudor period, but a few more saintly individuals also remain. There is another font following the usual local design at the west end, but this one has sadly suffered some mutilation. There are tombs of the Shelton family at the east end, but most are plain aside from the early 17th century one on the south side with a group of kneeling figures.
Shelton church is a bit of a gem and well worth a visit, and was open and welcoming when we called in happier (pre Covid) times.
For more see its entry on Simon's Norfolk Churches site below:-
St Mary's, Shelton
Shelton church is one I've known from photos for some time, so I was particularly pleased to be visiting it at last. You always have certain expectations in such cases so it's always intriguing to see how they'll measure up to reality. It looks quite a grand building so imagined a more dignified approach, instead we simply pulled up by a gate on a leafy country lane and there it was!
This is clearly an above average building that has had a lot of money put into it, and sure enough its rebuilding was funded by Sir Ralph Shelton (High Sheriff of Norfolk) from the 1490s to at least the 1520s (work may well have continued up to the eve of the Reformation). This work was never finished, as witnessed by the humble west tower that clearly belonged to the previous church, and the curiously hollow south porch, where a fan-vault was obviously planned but never materialised (leaving the upper chamber without a floor).
The church is unusual in the area for showing so little flintwork, the usual building material in these parts. Aside from the tower the walls are mostly of brick and the clerestorey of stone (quite a luxury). Its proportions make the building appear larger than it is, fairly short in length owing to the lack of a structurally defined chancel, but given more height by the handsome row of clerestorey windows above.
Within the church the sense of height is maintained, the proportions again accentuating this with a fairly narrow central aisle that rises to a flat plaster ceiling (replacing the original timber one in the 18th century). The nave columns are slender and elegant, all very much in the last phase of Gothic where the ratios of stonework to glass changed dramatically. This seems a very light building in every sense.
The best original surviving features here are in the windows at the east end, with much early 16th century glass remaining, collected into the three windows of the east wall (and therefore not in situ) with more remains in the traceries of the aisle windows. Most of the larger figures are kneeling donors of the Tudor period, but a few more saintly individuals also remain. There is another font following the usual local design at the west end, but this one has sadly suffered some mutilation. There are tombs of the Shelton family at the east end, but most are plain aside from the early 17th century one on the south side with a group of kneeling figures.
Shelton church is a bit of a gem and well worth a visit, and was open and welcoming when we called in happier (pre Covid) times.
For more see its entry on Simon's Norfolk Churches site below:-