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History and Tour of our Church
 All
Saints is a beautiful neo-Gothic church set in a rural
corner of North Wootton. The churchyard
is now unfortunately closed. The church has a resident
population of bats inside, which have, on occasions,
been known to make an appearance during evening
services!
In early times North Wootton was a small coastal coastal village midway
between two great seaports, namely Castle Rising and
King's Lynn. The church has always been on the same
site. The list of Vicars and Rectors runs from 1300
onwards as with other villages in Norfolk: before that
date the history is hazy - the site could have had a
parish church for a hundred years before that.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the building was poorly
maintained and the tower collapsed, falling outwards,
and was not rebuilt. The chancel was also totally
lost. The chancel arch was walled up and buttressed,
and a small wooden structure was added later in the
place of the chancel. It could even have been a shelter
for a horse. A pair of small windows was reused high up
in the east wall: these could have come from the South
wall of the last chancel, and it is interesting to note
that they had round tops as
 were
used in the Norman period.
At the beginning of the 19th century, Ladbrooke drew a
picture of this church. This is our chief source of information of the old
building at that time. He shows sailing boats in the
distance and the churchyard unfenced. Then came the
reclamation of a great acreage of land from the sea and
the arrival of the railway, adding greatly to the
prosperity of the village.
In 1852 the church was entirely rebuilt. One early
English lancet window midway along the South wall of the old
church provided a theme for the architect. The said
window itself was reconstructed in Bath stone. The
architect was Anthony Salvin who designed the whole
church. He masterminded a great many of the early
Victorian churches in England, and was particularly
famous for his work on restoring castles, including
Norwich Castle. This was before the time when
restoration of the old features, stone by stone, became
fashionable, and in the 1850's, it was considered best
to be bold and scrap the old in favour of a new
building. Not even the font survived. So here we see
the Gothic revival taking over with great confidence,
using the original ground plan of the church, but
refacing all the walls and introducing the Bath stone
which was easy to work for all the corners and windows
etc.
The tower is a fine example of Gothic Revival work,
using the early English idiom. Four blank arches with
columns on each face make it a pleasure to view. On the
West side one of these arches is used as West window
above a West doorway. The belfry contains only one
bell. The turret stairs continue to the rooftop, ending
with a round turret, which has a conical roof and a
weather vane.
 The
interior has enjoyed constant improvement since 1852,
and is well furnished with particularly good altar
rails. In 2008 two pews were removed from the back
of the church to create an area for parents and toddlers
or babies. The floor tiles start at the West end with
two quiet shades of brown and improve in richness by
stages towards the East end.
In 1997 a new kitchen, toilet, and children's area
was created in the tower space at the West end, with a
new room created above to be used as a meeting/Junior
Church room. It cost nearly £20,000 and was paid for
totally by parishioners. Much of the work was done by
local volunteer labour, and the principal professional
builder was Peter Drew, who lives in Station Road.
A new sound system was installed in 2002, greatly
improving audibility, especially when the church is
full. Equally, a very fine heating system was installed
in autumn 2002, which has since resolved the problem of
dampness in the church. Parishioners were very active
in it's installation.
The font is massive with eight columns on the corners
and a bold foliage design on each panel.
The War Memorial is unusual for our Norfolk Villages in
having as many names for the Second World War as for the
First. This reflects the modern growth of the
village.
 The
Pews are plain, but greatly enhanced by the pretty lamp
standards in every 4th pew. The contrasting use of iron
gas-piping and polished brass is most effective; these
lamps were once powered by acetylene gas, produced in a
small lean-to and piped into the church under the
floor. The lean-to is now converted into the WC, with
access from within the church. The gallery was erected
in 1986-7 and on it are paintings of an angel leading
the singing and a saint praying. The pipe organ in the
gallery was made by Harrison & Harrison of Durham in
1886 for a new church at Great Lumley, near Durham. It
was rebuilt and installed here by a parishioner. Two
old bench ends will be seen in the front of the
gallery.
Corbel heads of great quality will be seen where the
roof trusses are supported on the walls. Some of these
can be viewed nicely from the gallery.
The Choir Stalls have particularly fine heads carved in
wood and polished. 
The glazing: The pictorial stained glass here is by the
great London firm of Ward & Hughes, and all the other
windows have tinted glass to give the church interior a
feeling of being apart from the bustle of the village
outside. The East window is signed in the corner by "H.
Hughes 1877". It's three lancets show: 1) The three
shepherds worshipping the infant Christ; 2) The eleven
disciples at Christ's Ascension; 3) The three women
looking at the empty tomb with the angel saying "HE is
risen".
The North Chancel window is signed "Ward & Hughes,
London 1883", showing Christ talking to the Samaritan
women at the well, and in the South window we see Him
speaking to St John at the Last Supper.
The Nave South lancet window is signed "T.F. Curtis, W &
H, London, 1900", and depicts a lady giving loaves of
bread to the hungry. This is in memory of Mrs. Clarke,
the Rector's wife, and a scroll at the top tells us that
'She had been a succour to many'. The Rev. Clarke was
the incumbent when this church was rebuilt. The Nave
North windows remember another former Rector, who died
in 1907, and here we see children picking wild flowers
and giving them to Jesus.
To view more images from All Saint's Church, visit our
Photo Gallery. |
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