St Peter Parmentergate is a large and impressive mainly fifteenth century church in a quiet somewhat neglected area south of Norwich City Centre. It comes as no surprise to find it is no longer used as a church, though services continued as late as the 1980s.
The nave of the church is currently used as a martial arts gym ( a session of which was in full flow when I visited); whilst this may seem rather incongrous it does at least allow the interior to remain more or less intact without the subdivision many conversions to new use involve.
The chancel remains complete with most of it's furnishings and monuments, most important being the large Berney tomb from 1623 in the south east corner, an impressive Jacobean monument with effigies, mostly boxed in when I visited but since fully restored. The east window has early glass by Alexander Gibbs 1861 in rather harsh colours.The fine medieval font remains at the west end of the nave but was also boxed in for protection.
An unusual feature here is the two storey extension east of the chancel, the former sacristry added in the early 16th century.
For more see Simon Knott's superb website below:-
www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norwichpeterparmentergate/norwi...
Also on Norwich Historic Churches Trust's website:-
www.norwich-churches.org/St%20Peter%20Parmentergate/home....
The City of Norwich contains the highest concentration of medieval churches in Britain (indeed the highest in Northern Europe) within it's ancient boundaries, 32 surviving within little more than a couple of square miles (35 survived until World War II bombing, postwar planners gleefully took the opportunity of bulldozing the ruins of three completely).
It comes therefore as little surprise to find only a handful are still used for worship (in a city that already posseses two magnificent cathedrals) and most have been converted to other uses.
Visiting the churches is therefore difficult, and having been to Norwich several times it seemed all but a rare couple were perpetually locked up (including those still working as churches, apart from the largest, St Peter Mancroft) and on the grey wintry days when I tended to be in the city they seemed quite forbidding and impenetrable.
Therefore I decided to coincide my next trip to Norwich with Heritage Open Days 2006, having consulted various online sources (including the excellent Norfolk Churches website by Flickr's own Simon Knott, which has full details of all the churches and their opening arrangements, or lack of!). www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norwichintro.htm
Probably the busiest, most intense churchcrawl of my life in a walking tour of 30 churches and 2 cathedrals (which left my legs pretty shattered later!).
Nearly all the following photos were therefore taken on this sunny September day. It was a privelege to finally see inside this wonderful set of buildings and a rare opportunity as most are normally closed to visitors.
All Saints
St Andrew
St Augustine
St Clement
St Edmund
St Etheldreda
St George Colegate
St George Tombland
St Giles
St Gregory
St Helen
St James the Less
St John Maddermarket
St John de Sepulchre
St John Timberhill
St Julian
St Laurence
St Margaret
St Martin at Oak
St Martin at Palace Plain
St Mary Coslany
St Mary the Less
St Michael Coslany
St Michael at Plea
Octagon Chapel
St Peter Hungate
St Peter Mancroft
St Peter Parmentergate
St Saviour
St Simon & St Jude
St Stephen
St Swithin
Tags: norwich church norfolk st peter parmentergate redundant
© All Rights Reserved
St Peter Parmentergate is a large and impressive mainly fifteenth century church in a quiet somewhat neglected area south of Norwich City Centre. It comes as no surprise to find it is no longer used as a church, though services continued as late as the 1980s.
The nave of the church is currently used as a martial arts gym ( a session of which was in full flow when I visited); whilst this may seem rather incongrous it does at least allow the interior to remain more or less intact without the subdivision many conversions to new use involve.
The chancel remains complete with most of it's furnishings and monuments, most important being the large Berney tomb from 1623 in the south east corner, an impressive Jacobean monument with effigies, mostly boxed in when I visited but since fully restored. The east window has early glass by Alexander Gibbs 1861 in rather harsh colours.The fine medieval font remains at the west end of the nave but was also boxed in for protection.
An unusual feature here is the two storey extension east of the chancel, the former sacristry added in the early 16th century.
For more see Simon Knott's superb website below:-
www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norwichpeterparmentergate/norwi...
Also on Norwich Historic Churches Trust's website:-
www.norwich-churches.org/St%20Peter%20Parmentergate/home....
Tags: norwich church norfolk st peter parmentergate
© All Rights Reserved
St Peter Parmentergate is a large and impressive mainly fifteenth century church in a quiet somewhat neglected area south of Norwich City Centre. It comes as no surprise to find it is no longer used as a church, though services continued as late as the 1980s.
The nave of the church is currently used as a martial arts gym ( a session of which was in full flow when I visited); whilst this may seem rather incongrous it does at least allow the interior to remain more or less intact without the subdivision many conversions to new use involve.
The chancel remains complete with most of it's furnishings and monuments, most important being the large Berney tomb from 1623 in the south east corner, an impressive Jacobean monument with effigies, mostly boxed in when I visited but since fully restored. The east window has early glass by Alexander Gibbs 1861 in rather harsh colours.The fine medieval font remains at the west end of the nave but was also boxed in for protection.
An unusual feature here is the two storey extension east of the chancel, the former sacristry added in the early 16th century.
For more see Simon Knott's superb website below:-
www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norwichpeterparmentergate/norwi...
Also on Norwich Historic Churches Trust's website:-
www.norwich-churches.org/St%20Peter%20Parmentergate/home....
Tags: norwich church norfolk st peter parmentergate
© All Rights Reserved
St Peter Parmentergate is a large and impressive mainly fifteenth century church in a quiet somewhat neglected area south of Norwich City Centre. It comes as no surprise to find it is no longer used as a church, though services continued as late as the 1980s.
The nave of the church is currently used as a martial arts gym ( a session of which was in full flow when I visited); whilst this may seem rather incongrous it does at least allow the interior to remain more or less intact without the subdivision many conversions to new use involve.
The chancel remains complete with most of it's furnishings and monuments, most important being the large Berney tomb from 1623 in the south east corner, an impressive Jacobean monument with effigies, mostly boxed in when I visited but since fully restored. The east window has early glass by Alexander Gibbs 1861 in rather harsh colours.The fine medieval font remains at the west end of the nave but was also boxed in for protection.
An unusual feature here is the two storey extension east of the chancel, the former sacristry added in the early 16th century.
For more see Simon Knott's superb website below:-
www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norwichpeterparmentergate/norwi...
Also on Norwich Historic Churches Trust's website:-
www.norwich-churches.org/St%20Peter%20Parmentergate/home....
Tags: norwich church norfolk st peter parmentergate
© All Rights Reserved
St Peter Parmentergate is a large and impressive mainly fifteenth century church in a quiet somewhat neglected area south of Norwich City Centre. It comes as no surprise to find it is no longer used as a church, though services continued as late as the 1980s.
The nave of the church is currently used as a martial arts gym ( a session of which was in full flow when I visited); whilst this may seem rather incongrous it does at least allow the interior to remain more or less intact without the subdivision many conversions to new use involve.
The chancel remains complete with most of it's furnishings and monuments, most important being the large Berney tomb from 1623 in the south east corner, an impressive Jacobean monument with effigies, mostly boxed in when I visited but since fully restored. The east window has early glass by Alexander Gibbs 1861 in rather harsh colours.The fine medieval font remains at the west end of the nave but was also boxed in for protection.
An unusual feature here is the two storey extension east of the chancel, the former sacristry added in the early 16th century.
For more see Simon Knott's superb website below:-
www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norwichpeterparmentergate/norwi...
Also on Norwich Historic Churches Trust's website:-
www.norwich-churches.org/St%20Peter%20Parmentergate/home....
Tags: norwich church norfolk redundant st peter parmentergate
© All Rights Reserved