Southery is one of those large villages in the Norfolk fens that you can't believe aren't really in Cambridgeshire, their character is so busy and agro-industrial. As with most of the fens, the middle years of the 19th century brought a great deal of prosperity, and a new church was built in 1858 to replace this one. Pevsner says that it appears complete in Ladbroke's drawing of 1823, so it was probably abandoned when the expense of repairs became so great that it made more sense to build a new church. I was impressed that Ladbroke had made it out this far. I had been told that the ruin was completely overgrown, a boiling of elder trees and ivy, and so it was with some surprise that we came to find a completely scrubbed graveyard, its surface like a moonscape, and the ruin of old St Mary surrounded by chain-linked safety fences.

This has happened recently, and I don't know who is responsible. I hope that it is Norfolk County Council, who have embarked upon a programme of repairing and consolidating some ruined churches for future enjoyment. You can see that this church was massively repaired in the 18th century; the south wall is entirely of red brick. You can also see the problem; the carstone east end wall is sinking, and has pulled away from the new wall like a biscuit breaking.

Chain-link fences like these are easy to open and enter - I have done this several times elsewhere - but here the ruin and its graveyard are surrounded by suburban bungalows. I didn't really want anyone calling the police - I wasn't sure that Norfolk fen people have the same mistrust of the police as Cambridgeshire fen people do - so I desisted. So, I cannot tell you what it is like inside, or show you pictures of it. But lets hope something is being done which will allow all of us to visit it safely.

Simon Knott, May 2006