NHER 8433 (Building record) - St John's Church, Hoveton

11th to 12th century nave, original dimensions shown by conglomerate build.
Extended west, chancel rebuilt in about 1300. Side windows inserted, walls raised, roofs added 15th/16th century. Tower 18th century. Altered 1890. Contains 16th century rood screen. Important 18th/19th century memorials, graffiti etc.

April 1955. Listed, Grade II*.
Listing description excerpt:
"Parish church. Nave and chancel 12th century in origin but remodelled in 15th century. West tower 1765. Restored 1890 by H.J. Green, Diocesan architect. Flint with ashlar dressings and some carstone. Tower of brick. Roofs of black glazed pantiles. Three-stage tower with stepped diagonal western buttresses rising to belfry stage...Datestone 1765 to west…Semi-circular grated hole in north chancel leads to crypt...Gabled north porch, partly rendered...Octagonal 15th century font...Painted Royal Arms over south door. Seating 1890 except three benches retain six 15th-century poppyhead bench ends. Scissor braced roof 1890. 16th-century chancel screen…"
Information from (S1).
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S1) for the current listing details.
P. Watkins (HES), 16 June 2021.

Before November 1987. Field Observation.
Outlines of children's feet and hands and a nine-mens-morris board were observed on the porch.
Information from Record Card (S7).
H. Hamilton (HES), 20 February 2023.

November 1987.
A barrel organ of 1820 form one of the Hoveton churches, probably this one, is in the St Peter Hungate Museum.
Information from Record Card (S7).
H. Hamilton (HES), 20 February 2023.

September 1996. Stray find in churchyard.
One body sherd of medieval coarseware was found in a molehill south of the nave, and a second sherd was found in a molehill north of the nave.
See full report (S2) and photographs (S3) in file.
E. Rose (NLA), 26 May 2001.

September 1997. Found in churchyard.
1 sherd of pottery of Iron Age or earlier date was recovered from bare soil5m west of the nave-chancel junction and 11m to the south.
Two unglazed medieval pottery sherds were found in molehills, one to the north and one to the south of the nave.
See full report (S2) and photographs (S3) in file.
E. Rose (NLA), 26 May 2001.

May 2001. Field Observation (Visual Assessment).
A detailed visual survey of the building was undertaken.
See Unpublished Report (S2) and photographs (S3) for further details.
H. Hamilton (HES), 20 February 2023.

April 2002. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of groundworks associated with construction of extension to church and installation of new soakaway and septic tank.
The partial exposure of the church footings revealed further evidence suggesting that the nave was constructed in two phases.
A number of articulated human burials and grave cuts were identified.
A significant assemblage of medieval pottery was recovered.
See report (S4) for further information and NHER for details of other discoveries . The results of this work are also summarised in (S5).
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2024.178)
J. Allen (NLA), 17 April 2002. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 21 June 2021 and 20 October 2024.

June 2003. Observation.
In 2001 it was noted that the tower contains bricks with horizontal skintlings which were generally believed not to have been used in Norfolk before 1770. This called into question the date of the tower, which was believed to be 1765.
Bricks with horizontal skintlings dating from the 1760's haven now been found at Heckingham workhouse in Norfolk and therefore now suppots the 1765 construction date of the tower.
Information from HER Notes (S8).
H. Hamilton (HES), 20 February 2023.

January 2019. Field Observation.
Record made of masonry structures exposed by reflooring works in nave of church.
The main feature exposed was a sub-rectangular pit with brick walls at either end that was probably a family grave. The walls were made from bricks of late 18th- 19th-century date and had most likely once supported a now missing ledger stone. The tops of the walls had been damaged by a past levelling event, probably during the restoration work undertaken in the 1890s. Disarticulated human bone present in the south-east corner of the pit may represent material that had been collected and inserted during this work. It is possible that the ledger stone from this grave is amongst those now set within the walkways between pew areas, several of which are of similar spans. This probable grave truncated patchy remnants of mortar, which may be all that now survives of the medieval to post-medieval floor surfaces present prior to the late 19th-century reflooring works.
See report (S6) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 21 June 2021.