All Saints, Burnham Ulph

Burnham Market is at the heart of the Burnhams, a small town really that seems much larger than its population of just over a thousand people. It was created by three of the Burnham villages growing together, Burnham Sutton, Burnham Ulph and Burnham Westgate. Sutton's church was lost in the 18th Century and the parish amalgamated with that of Ulph. Pevsner notes that Cotman's drawing of Burnham Ulph church in 1817 shows it with a ruined chancel, and only a distant farm for company. Today, the churches of Burnham Westgate and Burnham Ulph stand at either end of Burnham Market high street. Burnham Westgate's church is effectively the main parish church, being larger and more prominent, but this little church holds its own in the townscape.

The church was essentially rebuilt along the old lines in the 1870s, but reusing some of the old masonry, including some window tracery. There are no aisles, and as you might expect you step into a narrow church with a devotional atmosphere. The view to the east is of an elegant chancel arch, perfectly proportioned and dating from the end of the 12th Century, probably a good date for the completion of the original church. When you get up close you can see the way that the capitals were chopped about for the fitting of a screen, presumably in the 15th Century. Beyond, the small chancel with its tall Perpendicular east window is full of light, for there is no coloured glass here. Mortlock is right to call it simple and pleasant. What else? A couple of devotional statues, a hexagonal pulpit, a brightly painted organ, and two rather impish corbel heads supporting the roof in the eastern corners of the nave. A quiet space in the middle of a busy day.

Simon Knott, May 2022

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Burnham Deepdale - Burnham Norton - Burnham Overy - Burnham Sutton - Burnham Thorpe - Burnham Ulph - Burnham Westgate