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St Peter,
West Rudham There's not much to tell East and West
Rudham apart, other than that East Rudham is up on the
main road to King's Lynn, and West Rudham straggles along
and finally peters out in the narrow lanes towards Great
Massingham. Just before the village completely disappears
there's the church, set back from the road in a
deliciously overgrown churchyard full of 18th Century
headstones. In truth, not much happened here after the
18th Century. Pevsner went into ecstasies at the puzzle
over which bits came first, but generally speaking we are
looking at a late 13th Century church which was completed
in the early 14th Century. The chancel was partly rebuilt
in the 19th Century. Very curiously, the south doorway is
set well below the level of the churchyard, and there are
steps down to it.
With
such a big church less than a mile off in the
centre of the village, St Peter was always going
to be a candidate for redundancy. It was allowed
to fall into considerable decay until English
Heritage came along in the 1990s, wagged its
finger and part-funded a massive restoration. The
Norfolk Churches Trust funded the rest and still
looks after it today. There is no
reason for this church not to be open other than
the lack of someone to do the opening and
closing. The keyholder lives miles off, and I was
on my bike. It always seems a pity that when
buildings have received large amounts of what is
basically public money, the public aren't able to
see the fruits of that investment. Surely it
should be possible for the key to be available at
the village shop, as it is for East Rudham? Well,
I dare say I felt a bit frustrated. But in truth,
this is a lovely spot on a summer day, and really
I was quite content to wander around the
insect-humming churchyard in the soft heat,
exploring and discovering. But yes, I would have
liked to have seen inside the church.
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