St Nicholas, North Walsham

Story

St Nicholas Church is a parish church in the Church of England in the centre of North Walsham, Norfolk, England. The building is well known for its landmark collapsed tower.HistoryThe present church was commenced in about 1330, although the Saxon church was partially enlarged and altered in around 1275, as a temporary measure to meet the needs of a rapidly expanding town. Work was interrupted by the 'Black Death' plague in 1348 and again in 1361. These fatal epidemics resulted in a lack of skilled craftsmen, a fact which necessitated the austere simple tracery in most of the windows. There was another delay at the time of the Peasants' Revolt in 1381, following the Battle of North Walsham, when a large group of rebellious local peasants was confronted and defeated by the heavily armed forces led by the warlike bishop of Norwich, Henry le Despenser. The completed church was consecrated by le Despenser by the end of the fourteenth century.The church was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the change to St. Nicholas only happening in later years after the English Reformation. The pinnacled entrance porch is richly carved and decorated with colourful statues and heraldic emblems. During the medieval period the south chapel area of the church contained a shrine to Thomas Becket, popular with pilgrims en route to Bromholm Priory at Bacton.