All Saints, Hemblington, Norfolk

Before this day, I had not heard of Hemblington. But I saw a sign pointing to the church, away over the fields, and I had time, so I turned to see where it went.

 

The road went for ages until I saw the church, tucked in the countryside, round tower looking so typically Norfolk.

 

Inside I was dazzled by the painted font, the wall paintings on the north wall and the various nooks and crannies of this ancient church, but not really knowing what each was for.

 

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You don't have to go far off of the hellish A47 between Norwich and Yarmouth to come out into an utterly rural and remote corner of Norfolk. This is partly sleight of hand, because the narrow lanes which leave the busy road are so winding that they make you think you've come further than you have. Also, you might expect this area between the marshes and the broads to be flat and open; but here the landscape rolls, a patchwork of hedged fields and copses. In the late summer, there was a balmy restlessness, the soothing warmth of the sun competing with the wind from the North Sea ruffling and rustling the long grass.

All Saints is set in a secretive graveyard on a rise above a lattice of country lanes. From a distance it appears a sentinel; but, closer to, the aspect softens, and the church reveals itself as a humble little round-towered building, with much that is old about it, but also the simple mendings and making dos of later generations. I was particularly struck by the use of red brick, both in the elegant window in the western side of the Norman tower (is it 17th century?) and the moulding inside the opening of what is otherwise a humble south porch.

 

When I first came this way I bemoaned the fact that Hemblington church was kept locked, but I am happy to report that it is now open every day. Certainly, Hemblington is a remote parish, and its church a remote church, and trusting strangers is a risk - and Faith itself is a risk, of course. But the great medieval treasures of Hemblington are not the kind that can be carted away in the back of a white van.

 

The first is one of a number of very interesting, even idiosyncratic, fonts in this part of Norfolk. These do not appear to be part of a series, although this one does bear a strong resemblance to that nearby at Buckenham. They do suggest, however, that there was an abundance of stonecarvers working in this area in the 15th century, and that parishes were able to express their independence and individuality in their choice of subject. The Reformation would put a stop to that.

 

The Hemblington font was recoloured lightly in the 1930s under the eye of Professor Tristram. It is a great celebration of Saints; there are seven seated on the panels of the bowl, and eight more standing around the shaft. The eighth panel subject is a beautiful Holy Trinity, with God the Father seated holding his crucified Son between his knees, while the dove of the Spirit descends. It is a charming image; there is another on the font at Acle a few miles off. Among the Saints on the panel are St Augustine, St Edward the Confessor, St Barbara, and a striking St Agatha - she sits with her breasts bared, a sword descending. Among those around the shaft are St Lawrence with a finely carved grid iron, St Leonard with his manacles, St Margaret dispatching a dragon with her cross, St Catherine with her wheel and sword, St Stephen and St Mary Magdalene.

 

If there was only the font, Hemblington would be a must-see for anyone interested in the late medieval period. But just as the font demonstrates the enthusiasms of the cool, rational 15th century, so there is evidence of the shadowier devotions of a century earlier. This is the best single surviving wall painting of the narrative of St Christopher in England. The giant figure bestrides the river opposite the south doorway, just as he does in about twenty churches in this part of Norfolk, but here his staff has become a club, and on either bank there are smaller scenes depicting events in the Saint's story. those on the west side, recalling his life as a pagan before conversion, are all but obliterated. Those on the east side, however, are marvellously well-preserved, vivid and immediate in their clarity. They show the trials and tribulations he underwent in his life as a Christian, including the occasion on which two women were sent to tempt him in prison, and another where he is led to the executioner's sword. Another shows him tied to a tree being flogged, an echo of the scourging of Christ; another shows him being shot through with arrows, which would have immediately brought to mind the martyrdom of their own dear St Edmund to the medieval East Anglians.

 

The donors who paid for the font, in that great, late medieval attempt to reinforce Catholic orthodoxy in the face of local abuses and superstitions, are probably among those remembered by brass inscriptions in the nave.

 

And this must have been a busy parish in those days, for will evidence reveals that there were three guild altars where lights burned for the dead. We can even trace where these guild altars may have been, for on the north side of the nave there is a piscina, and connected to it is a pedestal, where a statue of a Saint would have stood. Such things were probably destroyed in the 1530s by orders of the increasingly paranoid King Henry VIII; those that survived would have fallen to the orders of the enthusiastically puritan advisors of his son, the boy King Edward VI a decade later. It is appalling to think of the richness that once was, not just here, but in thousands of village churches all over England. So much lost, so much wilfully destroyed.

Hemblington has retained more than most, and the church is a fascinating testimony to the mindset of late medieval East Anglia. But even without these great treasures, All Saints is a charming, rural building that speaks as loudly of the Victorian villagers who paid for, and probably worked on, its restoration as it does of their mysterious Catholic forebears. I stood for a moment imagining the blacksmith and the plowboy, the wheelwright and the carpenter, sitting in the pews for Divine Service. And then, after a chat with the modern custodians, we headed on for North Burlingham.

 

Simon Knott, November 2007

 

www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/hemblington/hemblington.htm

 

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Six socmen of Gert were at the Conquest deprived of 30 acres of land, 2 acres of meadow, with 2 carucates, in this town, there were also 2 socmen, one of them belonged to the soc of the hundred, who held half a carucate of land, and a borderer with 6 acres of meadow, who had under them 7 socmen, with 20 acres of land, and one of meadow, and there was one carucate and an half among them all; it was one leuca long, and half a leuca broad, and paid 16d. gelt. (fn. 1)

 

This lordship was in the Crown at the survey, and Godric took care of it; and was granted to the family of Le Botiler, and from them came to the Botetourts, as in South Walsham, and Upton.

 

William de Rothing and Joan his wife claimed view of frankpledge, &c. in the 15th of Edward I.

 

Henry de Cat and Margery his wife had an interest herein, in the 35th of the said King, and Henry Cat, and Jeffrey Atte Fenne were returned to be lords in the 9th of Edward II. after this John Fastolf and Margery his wife.

 

The principal manor belonged to the see of Norwich; at the survey William Beaufoe Bishop of Thetford held it in his own right, as a lay fee, 60 acres of land; of which 2 freemen (of Ralph Stalre were deprived) with the soc and sac; of one of these Almar Bishop of Elmham had the commendation, or protection only, of this Beaufoe had the soc, &c. and Ralph, the Earl had the other, valued at 2s.

 

Bishop Beaufoe in right of his see had also 21 socmen, with 140 acres of land, 8 acres of meadow, and 3 carucates and a half, &c. this was valued in his principal lordship of Blowfield: in this town, there were also 60 acres of demean land. (fn. 2)

 

Bishop Beaufoe gave this to his see at his death, and Bishop Herbert settled it on the priory, with the advowson of the church.

 

The ancient family of the Castons held a considerable part of these fees. of the see of Norwich, of whom see in Blofield, Bradeston, &c. and after came to the Berneys of Reedham; the Lords Bardolf had also an interest herein, in the 15th of Edward I. William Bardolf, claimed the assise, frank pledge, &c.

 

Sir Thomas Berney died lord in 1389, and his descendant, Henry Berney, Esq. in 1584.

 

The tenths were 2l. The temporalities of St. Faith's priory 18d. Of Weybridge 5s.

 

The Church was a rectory dedicated to All-Saints, and formerly in the patronage of the Bishops of Norwich, but was appropriated to the prior and convent of Norwich, for the prior's table, by Walter Suffield Bishop in 1248, and was valued together with the vicarage at 5l.—Peter-pence 12d.—Carvage 2d. ob.

 

Vicars.

 

In 1304, Thomas de Langele, instituted vicar, presented by the prior &c. of Norwich.

 

1307, Richard de Boton. Ditto.

 

1324, And. de Bedingham. Ditto.

 

1349, Edmund Barker. Ditto.

 

1367, Thomas Gilbert. Ditto.

 

1395, John Malpas. Ditto.

 

1395, Edmund Heryng. Ditto.

 

1397, Robert Gernon. Ditto.

 

1401, Sim. Annable. Ditto.

 

1402, Robert Body. Ditto.

 

It has for many years been served with a stipendiary curate, nominated by the dean and chapter, who have the appropriated rectory.

 

¶In the church were the lights of All-Saints, St. Mary, Holy Cross, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret.

 

www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-hist-norfolk/vol1...

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