Church Heritage Record 626077

West round tower with embattled parapet, aisled nave, with south porch and transepts, chancel.

[Approximate] Nave 20m (66ft) x 15m (49ft) (width including aisles, excluding transepts 3m (10ft)) chancel 10m (33ft) x 6m (20ft)

The archaeological potential of the site is considerable. The tower is Norman in date and incorporates Roman material but also received an embattled parapet during the Victorian restoration. Clearly work was done in the 14th-century and two windows survive from this period. The earlier church was much larger and the ruins of the chancel remained until 1858 when the church other than the tower was largely rebuilt by Lord de Ramsey.  The VCH records that  ‘Sir Roger Bilney built the north aisle of this church, and was there buried under a marble grave-stone, ornamented with his effigies in brass, and about the rim of it was this inscription in French: Sr. Roger de Bylney gyst ici, Dieu de S' Alme eit merci. Et prie quelque le voyont Ke en memorie le avont’  There is a grave stone lying in the south transept with missing brass and illegible inscription which is likely to be Bilneys. Other sources date Bilney’s work to 1775. The church once stood in a wooded park but during the Second World War the area was cleared to become RAF Swannington Airbase and remained in use from 1944-1947.  There are no known designations relating to the ecology of the plot, though there are a few trees to the perimeter of the churchyard, mostly conifers with one mature ash. There is evidence internally of bats roosting.

The church also has a likely connection with Saint William of Norwich (born 1132) who was baptised by the priest of Haveringland, presumably in the church. The infant William reputedly touched the shackles of a prisoner and they broke into pieces. The priest kept the broken pieces in the church at Haveringland. William of Norwich was allegedly murdered by the Jews in Norwich at the age of 11 and subsequently martyred.

This rural church stands quietly amid the surrounding fields. It is hard to imagine the drone of WWII planes landing at close proximity but the church once stood amongst the workings of the RAF site.

The west tower is the only remnant of the original build, with the rather stark addition of the battlemented knapped flint parapet. The tower has a 14th-century two light window, under a four centred arch on the west ‘face’ the lower half of which has been bricked up. Above this is a blocked diamond shaped sound hole and on roughly the same stage to the north and south are tiny narrow openings under semi-circular arches filled with brick latticework.  Above this, there are four openings at bell stage with rebuilt brick and stone semi-circular arches. There is evidence of Roman roof tiles built into the tower.

The roofs of the church are all Westmorland slate. The south elevation, approached through a short avenue of growing conifers, has a gabled porch with equilateral triangular openings to the east and west. The nave is of three bays, doorways occupying the westernmost on both the north and south sides. The windows in the aisle are decorated in style. The west walls of each aisle have two light windows, the south pointed and matching the rest of the aisle, and the north 14th-century and under a four centred arch. The south aisle openings are each of two cusped lights with either a trefoil or quatrefoil over. The central bay to the north aisle has an opening to match the south while the easternmost bay of the north aisle has three cusped lights and tracery over.

The transepts each have grander windows, still Decorated in style, each of three cusped lights. The chancel has two smaller Decorated windows in the south wall each of two lights. The main east window has five lights and large trefoil tracery over.

There is consistent use of buttresses around the building, some diagonal each with two weatherings.

Internally, the 1858 work is simple and plain, even the carved headstops are not showy or fussy. Subsequently there is little that grabs the attention but all is calm and ordered and clearly well looked after despite needing redecoration.  There is a single step to the chancel and another to the sanctuary. The nave has oak benches with squared ends and poppy heads to the front and rear. 

The tower has a small shouldered arched doorway set within an earlier blocked opening. The nave arcades are simple octagonal piers with pointed arches in the Decorated style. The chancel has a barrel roof and the nave has arch braces alternating with scissor trusses. In the aisles, the roofs have tracery openwork in the arch braces.

The tall pointed chancel arch springs from a midpoint with carved angel stops and a separate hoodmould. The organ stands to the north side of the chancel arch and has a low level wooden screen surrounding it. The north transept has been screened for use as a small vestry. The floors are of encaustic tiles with carpet runners in the aisles.