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| Norfolk has many Round Towered Churches and below are just 2 from a wide selection, which offer a wealth of history and amazing beauty. These are the more traditional of the Round Towered Churches in Norfolk. West Lexham and South Pickenham are home to St. Nicholas and All Saints Round Towered Churches. |
 You don't have to go far off of the busy Swaffham to Fakenham road to find a Norfolk as quiet as anywhere; particularly here, where the chalklands become high Norfolk. St. Nicholas is barely a mile from the road, but it is sunk deep into a peaceful torpor, an ancient tower on an ancient site, only birdsong for company - that, and the two mad little dogs in the garden of the cottage by the entrance. |
| About St. Nicholas Round Tower Church |
 St Nicholas was almost entirely rebuilt during the last quarter of the 19th century; to all intents and purposes, this is a Victorian church against a tower which is late Saxon. In the 1990s, the tower was found to be collapsing, and so metal bands and staples have been applied to hold it together, and the whole lot cemented over. St Nicholas may not have the atmosphere of neighbouring East Lexham or Newton-by-Castle-Acre, but it shares with both those churches the conviction that this was a place of the ordinary people, not of big landed families. Even the restoration and 20th century additions like the fondly-carved alms box show that, and it was a blessing to be here. |
| All Saints Round Tower Church |
 We are roughly halfway between Watton and Swaffham here, which are hardly East Anglia's most urban towns by any measure. Out here, the lanes meander as if they have no particular business to attend to, and near a junction with the main road sits this endearingly lovely church. All Saints feels like something that was built from the ground up by people who knew they were the land's before the land was theirs. |
| The History of All Saints |
 The rebuilt tower arch inside still reveals this Norman tower, despite its pretty late medieval crown. With the body of the church tucked in behind it, the tower puffs out its chest like a proud-hearted lion. The nave roof is very unusual, the braces hanging beneath the beams before rising to lift the roof, it boasts a very strange effect. The interior has an intensely rural feel, simple furnishings doing the jobs they've done for generations, and this would be little more than a charming rural space if it not for the fact that it contains one of the great East Anglian art treasures of the 19th century. This is the organ which Augustus Pugin built for West Tofts - it is an extraordinary sight in the gallery here, where you might expect to see the village band or perhaps a crowd of workhouse children. Needless to say it still plays a perfect note! |
| More Churches |
| To explore some of the other fascinating Churches and Cathedrals in Norfolk, please choose from any of the links below. St. John's Roman Catholic Cathedral Norwich Cathedral St. Margaret's, Kings Lynn St. Mary, Brancaster St. Helen, Ranworth St. George, South Acre St. Martin, Thompson Round Towered Churches |
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