Nave looking West, St Peter Hungate, Norwich
St Peter Hungate sits in the attractive historical setting of Elm Hill, an enclave of tradition in the modern city. It is a largely 15th century cruciform building without aisles with a truncated west tower, now capped by a pyramid roof.
The church has been redundant since the 1930s, and was converted to use as a wonderful museum of medieval church art, displaying furnishings and artefacts from other redundant churches, complemented by this beautiful and authentic setting. Sadly this museum was closed in the late 1990s during a reorganisation of local museum services. The contents were put into storage and the church left closed and empty.
This was the first time I'd been in after this change of status, having visited the museum on a couple of previous occaisions. The difference was immediately apparent, a stark empty interior where the former display cabinets had been. The only old furnishing remaining is the ancient font, though there are also many good fragments of late 15th century stained glass in the east window and the traceries of several others.
Since this last visit in 2006 the church has been revived in a similar role to it's days as a museum as the Hungate Centre for Medieval Art, focussing on the art of stained glass.
For more information on the church prior to this see Simon Knott's entry on his Norfolk Churches website below:-
www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norwichpeterhungate/norwichpete...
Nave looking West, St Peter Hungate, Norwich
St Peter Hungate sits in the attractive historical setting of Elm Hill, an enclave of tradition in the modern city. It is a largely 15th century cruciform building without aisles with a truncated west tower, now capped by a pyramid roof.
The church has been redundant since the 1930s, and was converted to use as a wonderful museum of medieval church art, displaying furnishings and artefacts from other redundant churches, complemented by this beautiful and authentic setting. Sadly this museum was closed in the late 1990s during a reorganisation of local museum services. The contents were put into storage and the church left closed and empty.
This was the first time I'd been in after this change of status, having visited the museum on a couple of previous occaisions. The difference was immediately apparent, a stark empty interior where the former display cabinets had been. The only old furnishing remaining is the ancient font, though there are also many good fragments of late 15th century stained glass in the east window and the traceries of several others.
Since this last visit in 2006 the church has been revived in a similar role to it's days as a museum as the Hungate Centre for Medieval Art, focussing on the art of stained glass.
For more information on the church prior to this see Simon Knott's entry on his Norfolk Churches website below:-
www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norwichpeterhungate/norwichpete...