CHURCH LARKING - West Runton Church

West Runton has always been the larger village of the two Runtons. It has had its own Medieval Church, Holy Trinity for 800+ years. Whereas East Runton Church, St Andrews is essentially a redundant primary school building converted and dedicated in 1959. Both villages are but a stones throw from each other. Building, sharing and supporting any church has never been easy, particularly if you were without wealthy local benefactors

East and West Runton's origins were as part of a series of small fishing villages running along the Norfolk coast. Some of them not much more than a staithe and a handful of houses. East Runton reallly came into its own with the arrival of the post war tourist boom, and the many caravan parks now strewn along the coast from West Runton to Cromer. And hence, by the 1950's felt the need for its own modest Church facility. St Andrews is quaint, with a semi circular apse added. Apart from this it is 'architecturally speaking' an unremarkable vernacular building.

HolyTrinity in West Runton is placed at the highest point in the village, and set well back from today's coastal road. It is every inch the well kept traditional village church. With a small squat humble looking tower with a crenelated top and modest pinnacles placed to crown it in more recent times. The tower is probably the oldest surviving part of the church. With its Early English lancet windows. Which indicates the churches foundation may stretch back, at least, to the 12th Century.

The church fabric is generally a 13th- 15th century creation. Mostly Decorated in style with idiosyncratic Perpendicular insertions. It possesses an elegant font and cover that is in remarkably good condition for its age. It is quite common for rural churches by the time they reach the 19th century to have fallen heavily into disrepair. And they are then subjected to heavy Victorian restoration. In West Runton's case, not once, but twice, in the middle and late 19th Century.

In this case it no doubt was partly due to the Anglo Catholic Gothic revival in Norfolk, emanating out from Walsingham. There are tablets around the nave picturing the stations of the cross. It is currently part of the Quintet Benefice, five churches on this stretch of the Norfolk coast allied with Walsingam. All of which indicate it maintains a firm and long standing allegiance with the Anglo Catholic wing of the C of E.

Judging from residual marks on the nave side of the tower, the height and angle of the roof has been adjusted. Most probably during one of those Victorian restorations. Distinct side aisles and chapels created and a squat but blind clerestory added. This has left a number of the windows in the nave sitting uncomfortably close to or directly abutting the eaves. This brings its own haphazard patchwork charm to its frontage. These were not designed to be that way, but it was a necessary consequence of the original steeper roof being replaced with a tiered shallower one. The current Chancel is very largely a Victorian upgrade. The church contains a lot of very fine examples of 19th and 20th century stained glass.