NHER 10265 (Building record) - SS Andrew's and Peter's Church, Blofield

SS Andrew's and Peter's Church, Blofield.

September 1962. Listed, Grade I.
Excerpt of Listing Description:
Parish Church, 14th century and later, of flint with stone dressings and with lead and slate roofs. West tower, north aisle, north porch, south aisle, nave, chancel, north boiler house and south vestry. 15th-century, four-stage west tower with polygonal stair turret and diagonal buttresses. Flushwork on basecourse, buttress ends and on parapet. Perpendicular west doorway with attached shafts and spandrels emblazoned with the symbols of the patron saints. Four-light Perpendicular west window with traceried heads. Reticulated sound holes in rectangular openings. Three-light Perpendicular belfry openings with traceried heads. Battlemented parapet with hexagonal battlemented finials surmounted by Sculpture. Five-bay north aisle with three-light Perpendicular windows with tracery between buttresses. North porch, with wave moulded north doorway having attached shafts and hood mould with head label stops. Ogee cusped niche above entrance flanked by rectangular niches. To east and west, two-light windows at ground floor and one-light at former first floor level, with rectangular heads. Niche for stoup inside on east wall. Wave moulded north doorway to nave. Parapet gable. Five-bay south aisle with three-light Perpendicular windows with traceried heads between buttresses. Gabled buttress at east end supporting south aisle and clerestorey. South doorway at west end. Five-bay clerestorey with two-light Reticulated windows. Two-bay chancel, with blocked north and south windows. North-west window re-opened in 20th century with Perpendicular style window. 19th-century five-light east window. 19th-century lean-to boiler house to north, and knapped flint south vestry. Parapet gables, with grotesques on kneelers and crosses on the apex. Tower arch with attached shafts. Late 14th-century, five-bay arcade with quatrefoil piers and polygonal bases and capitals. 15th-century north aisle roof. Rood stairs doorways in north aisle and chancel. Late 14th-century chancel arch with ½ shafts, bases and capitals. Perpendicular angle piscina with cusped ogee arch in west face and blind tracery on north side. Medieval rood screen base, with 12 painted saints in the panels. Medieval bench ends with poppy-heads, some with seated or kneeling figures. 19th-century tiered box pews. 15th-century octagonal font with scenes from the life of Christ. Octagonal base with cusped blank panels. Monument to Edward Paston, died 1630, shown in alabaster, arched recess, flanked by Tuscan columns, with his sons and daughters. Brick floors containing brass matrices. Brasses to Paston family in chancel floor.
Information from (S1).
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S1) for the current listing details.
P. Watkins (HES), 28 June 2023.

September 1979. Field Observation.
Visited by E. Rose (NAU).
Very large. 14th-15th centuries. According to the vicar traces of 'Norman work' were found in 1880 restoration.
Some good gravestones in yard.
See record notes (S2) for brief description by E. Rose.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 28 June 2023.

1985. Stray Find.
Found 3ft [0.90m] deep in churchyard when moving headstone of 1852 to make new path:
Late Saxon or early medieval iron knife. See NCM X-ray (S3).
Compiled by S. Margeson (NCM), 3 May 1985. Information from record notes (S2).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 28 June 2023.

Helmet from Paston monument on loan to Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : L1989.1).
E. Rose (NAU).

See NHER 31642 for discovery of apparent former south-east wall of churchyard, and pits full of masonry perhaps deriving from 19th-century restorations, and pits full of human remains, presumably from churchyard tidying.
Information from file notes
Compiled by E. Rose (NLA), 8 Dec 1995. Information from record notes (S1).
P. Watkins (HES), 28 June 2023.

12 July 2000. Field observation.
Pipe trench, 500mm deep and 300mm wide dug from churchyard wall south towards tower.
At TG 3352 0922 a Roman pottery sherd (greyware base, not especially abraded) lay on a spoil heap, otherwise nothing of archaeological significance noted in what was all grave disturbed ground.
A. Rogerson (NLA), 13 July 2000.

July 2004.
Faculty granted for stained glass to be moved from the east window of the north aisle to its centre.
E. Rose (NLA), 3 July 2004.

December 2011. Watching Brief.
Maintained during removal of font from west end of church (prior to its repositioning in the north aisle).
The brick and slab base beneath the font was dismantled, revealing an octagonal gap in the brick floor. Sandy deposits beneath the floor were exposed, with a few darker-coloured patches noted. No finds were recovered.
Information from draft report. Final version awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 28 June 2023.

November 2012. Watching Brief.
Maintained during installation of new heating system.
These works exposed the make-up deposits for the floor, along with a few patches of mortar likely to represent the surviving traces of the bedding for a former floor. Footings for the aisle columns were also revealed, along with flints likely to represent the footings for the north wall of the church. Finds were limited to a single fragment of human bone, window glass of probable post-medieval date and a piece of post-medieval clay tobacco pipe.
Information from draft report. Final version awaited.
P. Watkins (HES), 28 June 2023.

January 2016. Watching Brief.
Maintained during reflooring works in the western end of the church that saw an uneven brick floor replaced with handmade Norfolk pamments.
Removal of the makeup for the 19th-century brick floor exposed substantial flint and mortar footings associated with the western wall and tower of the earlier church. This wall was up to 2m wide with the flared shaped of the footings suggesting the tower was potentially circular. The internal facework of the wall appeared to have been robbed, although three limestone blocks remained in place at the doorway into the tower. These small ashlar pieces had tooling parks consistent with a Norman or early medieval date. Thin deposits surviving within this doorway and what would have been the internal space of the tower suggest this early church had originally just had a simple beaten earth floor, although it may have subsequent gained a mortar skim. This floor was later raised slightly, possibly for a tile floor. No trace of the northern and southern walls of this earlier church were revealed, so its width remains uncertain. A number of the residual finds present in later deposits were probably associated with this earlier church, including several Caen stone fragments, small fragments of painted wall plaster and pieces of painted window glass with 13th-century designs.
Two clay-lined pits cut into the early wall footings both contained material that suggested they had been hearths in which silver had been refined from argentiferous lead. Trampled layers of burnt soil and charcoal provided further evidence for episodes of hot work during the demolition of the early church and the construction of the present building.
A mortar surface was exposed that was likely to represent the earliest floor of the 15th-century church. This had potentially acted as the bedding for a tiled surface, although no tile scars were noted. This floor lay above an extensive make-up/levelling deposit, below which was a layer of loose sandy mortar crush with frequent fractured flints likely to represent demolition debris from the earlier church.
A total of eight grave cuts of likely post-medieval date were identified, all of which truncated the medieval mortar floor surface. A ledger stone dated 1652 was reportedly recovered in the vicinity of these graves. Three of the graves contained frequent large fragments of 18th-century brick, pamment tile and flint rubble, although it was possible that much of this material was the result of relatively recent attempts to infill reoccurring voids (it been noted that the brick floor was particularly even in this area).
A small amount of highly fragmentary, disarticulated human bone was collected, all of which came from the main make-up layer beneath the post-medieval floor. This was reburied within the excavated area.
Other medieval finds included a small assemblage of predominantly high medieval pottery, floor tiles (including a single two-colour decorated tile), an iron candle holder, a possible casket mount or fitting, a small decorative mount and a piece of a granite millstone.
Evidence for activity prior to the medieval period was limited to two Roman pottery sherds and two probable tegula fragments (although the latter had potentially been brought from elsewhere for incorporation within the fabric of the first medieval church).
See report (S4) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 28 June 2023.