St Michael, Plumstead  

Another handsome little church huddled in the lost lanes of north Norfolk, its narrow churchyard fronting the village street. It is a mark of just how big Norfolk is that this parish is not confused with Great Plumstead and Little Plumstead, both much larger and way off on the other side of Norwich. The village is sometimes known as Plumstead St Michael. As often in Norfolk, a 12th Century church was augmented with a new chancel at the start of the 14th Century, the tower coming later and last of all, surmounted by elegant flushwork and pinnacles.The church was once bigger, and if the south side looks a little odd it is because a three bay aisle has been demolished, and the arcade filled in. Mortlock was perhaps a bit harsh on the 19th Century mock-Dec windows which replaced the arcade. To my mind they have the kind of quirkiness which is the charm of the churches in this part of East Anglia.

The interior is that of a typical country church, the feel of the long generations but also the crispness of its 19th Century reboot. You can see the remains of the arcade in the south wall, and the new windows are one of the settings for a good collection of medieval and continental glass brought here from Catton Hall near Norwich in 1950. The best of it is in the east window, 15th Century Norwich glass including a charming St Agnes with her lamb in the centre and then other figures of saints in holy orders, including two which may well be St Benedict and St Dominic. An intriguing feature of two of these two panels is that little heads fill a corner of the bottom of each. Almost certainly, they are portraits of the donors. Beside the heads, the barleycorn motifs which are typical of Norwich glass of this time are scattered across the floor beneath the saints' feet. In a south window of the chancel are two large panels of 16th Century continental glass, including a floating angel with his arms crossed who perhaps came from an Adoration of the Nativity scene. Other continental pieces include two roundels of St Michael defeating the devil.

There are several unusual features in the nave. On the north wall are two spirited paintings based on the figures of St George and St Michael on the screen at Ranworth over in the Broads. They are signed JF Durdin and dated 2000 and 2010. They are really very good. Another curiosity is the set of Royal Arms for George VI, which I think may well be unique in East Anglia. There are a fair number of sets for his daughter Elizabeth II, but I do not recall seeing one for her father before. The inscription suggests that it was made in 1952, for it tells us that it is in remembrance. Along the wall from it is a sweet little memorial written in charming lettering for Theophilia Fleming, the daughter of Peter Wilson Esquire of this Town. She died in 1743 at the age of 42, although the memorial gives the date as 6th Janry 1742/3, as this was in the days when the New Year began on March 25th. The English calendar changed from this practice to the current one just ten years later. Her inscription records that in Piety and Virtue she was a bright Example. No one was evermore Deservedly and Sincerely Lamented. What more could any of us wish to have said of us?

Simon Knott, May 2022

Follow these journeys as they happen at Last Of England Twitter.