Church Heritage Record 626045

Prehistoric

There are a number of scattered findspots of Stone Age flints along the rivers, and Bronze Age tools are known in the area, though none in the immediate vicinity of the site, but stray finds from all these periods are possible.

Roman

In the Roman period between the 1st and 5th centuries there were several farms and a burial site in the Great Yarmouth area.

Norman

The Benedictine Priory was founded in 1101 by Bishop Herbert de Losinga as a penance for an act of simony and completed in 1119. The base of the tower is early 12th-century,  but very little of the rest of the Benedictine church remains.

Medieval

Throughout the medieval period the church was altered and expanded.  The aisles were widened in the 13th century, the chancel rebuilt, the south porch was added in the 14th century (but the planned “Batchelor’s aisle, a western extension, was never completed, and abandoned in 1330) and new windows were put in the north wall in the 15th century. During this period the church was at its most magnificent with stained glass, tapestries, painted and gilded walls, frescos, 19 guild chapels reflecting its municipal importance, various relics of the saints and ornate furnishings. At this time Great Yarmouth was the fourth richest town in England, and this was reflected in its churches and the wealth of the Priory.

Post-Reformation

After Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530 the Priory came under the patronage of the Crown, before being given to the city as its parish church.  The south range of the Priory survived as it was used as a school, but most of the other buildings were demolished. In 1649 the church was divided into three parts as the Puritans, who were now in the ascendancy, demanded use of the building as their church. The arches were bricked up (two feet thickness) on the north side of the nave, the eastern side of the transepts and the eastern side of the tower. The three portions of the church were used by the Anglican Church (south aisle), the Puritans led by Rev Bridge (the chancel, which they fitted up as a church house) and the Presbyterians (the north aisle). All the three denominations held their services simultaneously.

The breaking by the Puritans of a new door to the chancel destroyed the altar tomb of Thomas Crowmer (Bailiff of Yarmouth 1470-97). The mutilation of this tomb was contrary to the Act of Parliament of 1644, which allowed the demolition of monuments of idolatry and superstition, but not monuments to dead people, unless they were deemed to be saints. The windows in the east end were filled up with bricks. The north aisle was used by the local militia as a drill hall when the weather was wet. The alterations to the church were paid out of a rate levied on the townspeople.

At the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 the Puritans were ejected from the church. The bricked up arches put up by the Independents and the Presbyterians were however not taken down until the restoration of 1859-64, when the church became undivided for the first time in about 200 years. The church was in a derelict state in the 17th and early 18th century, and the north nave aisle was removed due to deterioration in 1705.

19th Century

The Victorians mounted several large and expensive restoration schemes and by 1905 the church had been completely renovated. The north aisle was replaced in 1847 by JH Hakewill. East end rebuilt 1813 by PH Wyatt, again rebuilt and lengthened 1862 by JP Seddon who alos consolidated the tower with iron stays. Seddon’s work included rebuilding of south aisle and general restoration. ICBC file includes two printed groundplans and printed circular and church guide of 1882 . The churchyard level was lowered "two to four feet" in March 1883. Further restorations were undertaken in 1889 by JL Pearson.

20th Century 

The church was gutted in 1942 by German incendiary bombs and the subsequent fire, leaving only the tower and external walls. Following consolidation and discussions over the future of the ruins, it was agreed to rebuild the church. With the aid of a War Damage Commission grant and fund-raising by local people and businesses the church was rebuilt  between 1957 and 1960 under the architect Stephen Dykes Bower, known for his work at Bury St Edmunds cathedral and elsewhere. The church was reconsecrated in 1961 by the Bishop of Norwich. A nave altar and dais were also introduced in the 1990s, and the café was inserted into the south transept.

The church celebrated the 50th anniversary of its reconsecration in 2011, followed by its designation as a Minster in December 2012.

The west front presents 3 gables, the central one lit through 3 early 13th-century lancets over an arched and moulded doorway.There is a wide south aisle added c1250 with three stepped lancets each with two Y-tracery lights and cusping of 19th-century design. Punched trefoils in the spandrels. The church has an equally wide north aisle of 1847 lit through stepped lancets with Y-tracery. 4 polygonal turrets with C19 pinnacles. 8 nave aisle bays, the windows to the south side of 3 lights each of Geometric Decorated design.

The south porch is gabled with an arched and moulded doorway, corner pinnacles and flushwork panelling. Inside a 2-bay quadripartite rib-vault and an inner doorway with 3 orders of shafts carrying stiff-leaf capitals. Two 3-light flowing tracery side windows. The porch was restored in 1991.

The north nave aisle has seven 3-light Perpendicular windows of 20th-century origin and a re-used 13th-century doorway with multiple roll mouldings and a string course carried over it. In the angle with the north transept is an altar tomb of 1851 protected by iron railings. There are 7-light transept windows with Decorated tracery; angle pinnacles again. The chancel has 3-light cusped north and south windows and a 5-light east window by JP Seddon. In the angles between the chancel and the transepts are various low 19th-century and 20th-century vestries, the south of which is on the site of the 14th-century St Anne’s chapel and retains an arcade of this date.

The crossing tower has an arcade of 12th-century arches, then a string course below round-arched windows lighting the ringing chamber. The belfry is almost all 1862, by Seddon. It has three tall lancets to each face, a punched parapet and corner pinnacles.

The church's 4-bay nave arcade entirely of 1957, in design and execution: rectangular piers with engaged shafts and fan capitals. Boarded nave and aisle roofs. The west end has an internal wall passage. Wide arches from the aisles into the transepts and four transept arches re-cased in the 19th century.

The chancel has 5 aisles (since 1960), the outer 2 aisles separated by a 4-bay octagonal arcade of 1960. Pitched boarded central roof, flat boarded aisle roofs. Chancel pulpitum at the east end with two arched 13th-century doors, decorated with quatrefoils in the jambs and in the arch and with encircled quatrefoils in the spandrels.

The church is filled with simple light-stained nave pews which were brought from St George's, Yarmouth, and are dated to 1714.  The pulpit is the same date, set under the crossing.