This is the ruin of round-towered church, dramatic in a stark landscape to the north of the Diss to Harleston road. There is no village, and probably there hasn't been for a very long time. At the Reformation, when protestant congregational worship took the place of Catholic liturgy and devotions, the church fell in to disuse, probably as early as the 1540s. Without a parish population there was no need for a church, and the structure would have been mined for materials for building elsewhere. Interestingly though the tower appears to have been retained by the Hall for use as a dove house, which probably explains why so much of it survived so long after its abandonment.

Given the lack of any surviving ornamentation it's not possible to date the round tower exactly, but it was probably one of the later ones, perhaps early 14th Century. The 1990s revision of Pevsner's Buildings of England volumes for Norfolk describes three erect shapes as if made by a modern sculptor, which is eloquent if not quite true, for there have only been two jagged uprights for a long time. The remains of a red brick outline suggest that there may once have been a west doorway, which would be unusual, and most likely was just a low west window. The joist holes show where there were floors within the tower, but nothing of the east side survives.

This used to be an easy ruin to visit, but since the closure of Norgate Lane to through traffic that is no longer the case. However, a farm track runs north of the A143 between Scole and Billingford, and you can also reach it either from the Dickleburgh end of Norgate Lane or by continuing north and then west along the track that runs by Billingford church. On foot or by bike there is a path which runs from opposite Rose Farm at the eastern end of Scole village, but otherwise you will not find this ruin by accident.

Simon Knott, April 2023

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