Read on for the second monthly blog by Rob Gladstone.
As I continue my quest visiting Norfolk’s medieval churches, 152 and counting, the stories I find in each church never cease to intrigue me. In my first blog I posed the question of why I became so obsessed about visiting churches – and this is a big part of the answer – the potent cocktail of history, architecture and the bucolic setting draws me in and leads me on to the next story.
Just a couple of miles from the 14th Century port of Wells-Next-the-Sea, Warham is probably best known for Warham Camp, the Iron Age hill fort to the south of the village. The river Stiffkey, gracefully restored to its original course by the Norfolk Rivers Trust, languidly meanders its way through the flood plain. A pretty, linear village, Warham has two medieval churches, All Saints, pictured left, and St Mary Magdalene, (main image) at either end of its street. A third, St Mary the Virgin, was demolished some time around the Reformation.
Approaching along the road from Binham, Warham All Saints sits near the middle of the village opposite the renowned Three Horseshoes pub. Straddling the ridge in a lovely little churchyard, the 14th Century church seems unimposing, seemingly trying to blend into the scenery. As always, I look for enlightenment to my two brilliant sources, D.P. Mortlock’s ‘The Guide to Norfolk Churches’ and Simon Knott’s Norfolk churches website. Clearly this church was once far larger, the tower at the western end has gone and you can see the filled in arches on the north and south wall where the aisles once were. All that remains are the transepts, giving the church its cruciform shape.
Like so many of the churches I have visited, All Saints was given a ‘makeover’ by enthusiastic Victorians, an emotive subject that seems to repel and delight experts in equal measure! Reverend Charles Tilton Digby was the instigator here and the slightly overwhelming alabaster reredos his legacy. There is a charming 15th Century brass for William Rokewood, his head forlornly poking out from beneath a modern wooden access ramp.
Most intriguingly there are two Norman fonts. At the west end is a square Norman font thought to have come from St Mary Magdalene. In the north transept, sitting on the floor, is another Norman font that was rescued from the rockery in the rectory garden, a familiar tale! The four corners have been crudely taken off to transform it to an octagonal shape and the panels depict The Labours of the Months as on the nationally important font in Burnham Deepdale.
The final furnishing that caught my eye was a simple plaque to Richard Henry Burdon Cattell:
Rector of the Warhams 1928-1947
Captain of the English Rugby Football Team 1900
Chaplain to the Forces at Gallipoli 1915
The Tablet is placed in Remembrance
By his Seven Daughters
Now anyone who knows me will tell you that my original obsession has always been sport and I couldn’t help but draw comparisons with today’s top stars and the singular lives that professional sportspeople lead. Richard Cattell, on the other hand, had captained his country, served as a chaplain at one of the great military disasters of the 20th Century, led a small Norfolk parish – and fathered seven daughters.
As Simon Knott references though, his story doesn’t end there. Many people will know of the scandalous tale of Harold Davidson, one time rector down the road at Stiffkey. In précis, Davidson was an amateur actor who was ordained and moved to Stiffkey in 1906, a fine posting carrying a spanking rectory and £500 annual stipend. He seems to have been popular with many parishioners but spent much of his time in London in his role as chaplain to the Actor’s Church Union where he ministered to the many ‘showgirls’ in the seedier parts of the city. He scandalised local gentry by inviting many of these girls to stay at the Rectory. He was investigated, always declaring his innocence and the evidence seems flimsy, but he was finally defrocked in 1932. His story was a national sensation and on the back of his fame and to protest his innocence he took several roles at seaside shows. His final act was in Skegness where he performed as a real-life Daniel in the lions’ den, trod on a lion’s tail and was tragically mauled to death.
Richard Cattell comes into the story as he was the rector who stood in for Davidson during the latter’s investigation. During a service at Morston, Davidson stormed into the church and an argument ensued which resulted in a fist fight in front of the shocked congregation. There is no account of who won this set to, but at just 5 feet 3 inches, one imagines Davidson met his match in an ex-England rugby captain.
A short walk along the street, almost hidden behind a high wall and iron gates is St Mary Magdalene. This delightful medieval church was in its own parish but was combined with All Saints after the Reformation, becoming a chapel-of-ease. After years of decline it was deemed surplus to requirements in the 1960s but was saved by the tour-de-force, Lady Harrod, founder of the Norfolk Churches Trust. This remarkable woman is buried in the atmospheric graveyard with her husband and internationally renowned economist, Sir Roy Harrod.
From the outside the church looks familiarly medieval with a delightful priest’s door with a buttress sprouting from the top. A fashion also evident at Knapton and Trunch. The real delight here is on entering the church where you are hit by the simplicity and atmosphere of the 1801 Georgian restoration. The white plaster on the walls and roof contrast pleasingly with the wooden box pews and three-decker pulpit.
The elegant ‘bird bath’ font so loved by Sir John Betjeman sits serenely at the west end of the aisle. The windows are full of Flemish and smatterings of medieval English glass, the two musical angels playing lutes are wonderfully detailed, looking like two medieval pop stars.
Two white wooden doors on the north side of the chancel lead to a melancholic mausoleum to the Turner family. The room is stark and bare, with numerous ledger stones in the floor and hatchments on the walls. A small guide to the ledgers gives a taster of the intricate and interlinked world of the 17th/18th Century. We have Mary Turner, sister of Sir Robert Walpole often described as Great Britain’s first Prime Minister. Mary’s grand-daughter, Catherine, was the mother of naval hero Horatio Nelson. Sir John Turner, the third and final baronet, had two daughters, Fanny and Ann. Fanny went on to marry Sir Martin Browne Ffolkes of Hillington, the nephew of another Sir Martin Ffolkes, who notably succeeded Sir Isaac Newton as President of the Royal Society.
This little gem of a church has it all – beauty, calmness, modesty, elegance, fascinating historical connections – very fittingly linked to the founder of the NCT.
Wandering through the long, wispy grass in the churchyard my mind drifts to where next? The choice is almost endless and that is the joy.
Thank you Rob, we look forward to the next one.
