NHER 11104 (Building record) - St Mary's Church, Redenhall

St Mary's Church, Redenhall.

December 1959. Listed, Grade I.
Listing Description excerpt:
"Parish Church. Mainly 15th century and early 16th century. Chancel partly 14th century. Flint with stone dressings. Nave with fine Perpendicular clerestory, ashlar-faced. North and South aisles with Perpendicular windows. Decorated chancel. Two storeyed north porch with flushwork panelling and vaulted. Massive west tower with large octagonal buttresses with flush-work panelling..."
Information from (S1).
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S1) for the current listing details.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 6 November 2020.

According to (S2) this was begun in 1460, spire removed 1680, replaced 1681 but gone by 1818. Informant notes that Victorian restorers found evidence of a round-towered church here. Double-headed eagle lectern is also a collection box. Coins went through the beaks to a secret drawer, now sealed but still full of coins (NCM Bolingbroke Collection).
E. Rose (NAU). 1980 [1].

Newspaper cutting in file (S3).

This is the original parish church of Redenhall cum Harleston and has been suggested as a Saxon minster; the market town of Harleston grew up in its parish. Yet the civil parish boundary between the parish and Wortwell runs west of the church and cuts across the corner of the tower, leaving the northwest buttress alone in Redenhall and the remainder in Wortwell. Yet the parish of Wortwell is a 19th century creation; it was at one time part of 'Mendham in Norfolk'. There must be a remarkable historical reason for this.
E. Rose (NLA), 6 September 2002.

Redenhall with Harleston gained land from Mendham, a parish which had been split between Norfolk and Suffolk, in 1885. Wortwell had been a hamlet inside the area of Redenhall, see (S4). It therefore seems likely that the creation of Wortwell as a parish (although I can't find a date for this) resulted in the loss of land including part of the church grounds, from Redenhall to Wortwell. Wortwell itself has no parish church and is ecclesiastically united with Redenhall and Harleston, so that this church represents the main church for both parishes.
R. Fillery-Travis (NLA), 10th January 2006.

(S5) describes an Italian chest of 15th/16th century date in the church which is very rare in not having a Crucifixion scene on the underside of the lid, as most such chests do. Tradition says this comes from the chapel of Gawdy Hall. The interior has painted scenes which some have said are of later date but (S5) does not believe this is the case.
E. Rose (NLA), 12 April 2007.