CHURCH LARKING - Beeston Regis Parish Church

One of the joys to be had from 'church larking' is encountering the unexpected. Quite often an unpreposessing dull exterior can, as you lift the latch on the porch entrance door, reveal an interior full of character and unusual architectural flourishes. I usually arrive with standard questions in mind - when was this built and over what period? How has it come to be the way it is? Someone once described buildings as vertical archaeology. And its true that through analysis of minor visual elements you build up a rough historical timeline, of what led to what.

A question that crosses my mind every time I pass by Beeston Regis Parish Church is  - why is it so far from anywhere? The main village green and pond is actually half a mile away adjacent to the ruins of Beeston Priory. The distinctly medieval church is nearer to the most recently built part of Beeston, nudging onto the edges of West Runton. It's position stuck out on the edge of the sea cliff, sea erosion aside, is a bit of a mystery. One that I've yet to solve.

The Church from the Priory

It is a beautifully compact and well proportioned church, with internally quite a few unique details. Externally, you can see it has been largely remodeled in the 15th century. As is often the case the tower, though heavily renovated in 1951, is the oldest surviving part of the church. Probably 11th-12th century, its not round, so its an exception for this period in East Anglia.

The clerestory is a 14th century insertion, which as ever has required the remodeling of the roof. It has quite neat and even flushed flint work, so it looks newer, as does the crenelation of the top of the tower. The crispness of these is perhaps a sign of its many restorations since the 19th century.

But thankfully the interior has not suffered too detrimentally from well meaning restorers. The roof remains the original 15th century one. Not all the decorative corbels are of that date. The oldest have symbols of the Passion, the more recent emblems of saints. 

What instantly catches your eye is the rood screen. Which despite Reformation zeal has survived, minus its rood obviously, yet without vandalism to its medieval panels of saints. As the church is dedicated to All Saints, and they are all representations of biblical disciples, maybe this was deemed appropriate. Either that, or the rood was removed and hidden during the Commonwealth Republic. Nonetheless. it is a joy to find it still in situ. Not all of the screen is the original woodwork, it's upper part has been very sensitively restored. Reproducing the workmanship one might expect of a medieval woodworker, its quite a feat.

There are two characterful plinth heads either side of this rood screen. They appear to indicate they once supported something. Whether this was anything to do with the rood screen is hard to fathom.

Another features of note, are the two niches set in the side and adjacent wall of a window in the south aisle. I've not seen their like before. These may have once contained figures of the Virgin, or a figure adopted by a local medieval guild, who could have maintained a shrine in this corner of the church.

Another detail really worthy of doting over is the piscina and sedilia. It is utterly beautiful with a Perpendicular window set behind it. This window was once blocked off, but someone in more recent times had the brilliant idea to reopen it. So now the sunlight can beam through it and illumine its gorgeous stone tracery. It is thought this feature may have been brought here from the ruins of Beeston Priory, and that does seem right. There is something about it that is of an entirely different league of design to humble old Beeston.

Clear Glass Window with niches

It's a characteristic of Norfolk coastal churches to make the most of the low horizons, abundant sky and sunlight. It's rare to find more than a few fully stained glass windows. Most nave windows, as here, being clear glass or occasionally patterned Victorian insertions. As none has survived in Beeston we cannot know whether there was any original medieval stained glass. It maybe stained glass was too expensive and beyond the ability of a rural medieval church to afford. Only when glass manufacturing methods improved in the 19th century did it become feasible.