NHER 2698 (Building record) - St Peter and St Paul's Church, Swaffham

St Peter and St Paul's Church, Swaffham.
The associated churchyard is now recorded as NHER 68119.

January 1951. Listed, Grade I.
Listing Description excerpt:
"Parish church. 14th to 15th century with 18th- and 19th-century alterations and restorations. Flint, Barnack stone and some brick. Lead roofs. Plan: west tower, nave, aisles, north and south transepts and chancel…"
Information from (S1).
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S1) for the current listing details.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 23 February 2024.

Formerly (1897) a collection of 'old jugs and armour' here.
Tower begun 1507; by Robert Antell: son of John Antell who worked on Worstead church? Turret 1777. Singer's gallery erected in north aisle, entered by rood stair.
See Blomefield's idea in (S2) that the pedlar legend was caused by a 'Chapman' rebus on the stalls.
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU). Information from record card (S3).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 23 February 2024.

January 1973.
Southern churchyard boundary walls of to west and east of White Lodge (NHER 37599) listed Grade II. These 18th- and 19th-century walls are now recorded separately as NHER 68116.
P. Watkins (HES), 23 February 2024.

Autumn 1989.
Pew platforms lifted at each end of nave and in front of blocked north door. No features visible. Old ground surface not disturbed to any depth, sand dumped on top as bed for new floor formed of graveslabs laid face downwards (makers' names on reverse).
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU), 10 November 1989.

In the church (variously given as in the parvis, and above the vestry) is a complete 17th-century parish library, a unique survival in the county of a once common feature. Owing to damage by damp, etc. it is to be given to the Cathedral library. It includes the Black Book of Swaffham which is the accounts of the building of the tower.
Compiled by E. Rose (NLA), 4 December 1992.

October 1995.
Mid-19th-century iron gates at western entrance to churchyard listed Grade II. These are now recorded as NHER 68123. An iron gate of a similar age was added to the listing for the churchyard walls east of White Lodge (NHER 68116). The remains of the town pound adjacent to the north wall of the churchyard were also listed Grade II at this time (now NHER 68124).
Compiled by E. Rose (NLA), 13 November 1995. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 23 February 2024.

1996. Field Observation.
During stripping for new toilet area 'on south side by first window past the tower.'
Outline of blocked doorway revealed, covered by ?vaulting shaft. Poor photograph shows what looks like a round-arched door outlined in voussoirs of alternate bricks and flints, and with similar brick in the blocking. The bricks do not look earlier than late medieval but appearances have been found to be very deceptive in this way. Also found were 'yellow tiles' in the walling (brick fragments?)
Information and photo from [1] who suggests this is part of the pre-1456 collapse. Detailed record of the church is needed to judge this.
Compiled by E. Rose (NLA), 18 April 1996.

Rev. Armstrong's Diary notes a service for the completion of restoration of the church on the 4th May 1854.
Information from (S4).
Compiled by E. Rose (NLA), 29 July 1997.

(S5) in file.

Damage to the bells probably results from 17th century iconoclasm.
E. Rose (NLA), 1 October 2005.

This is one of the sixty five Norfolk churches selected for (S6).
D. Gurney (NLA), 17 February 2006.

May 2015-February 2016. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of internal works undertaken in order to improve access to the church.
As part of these works the Purbeck stone floor of the tower was lifted (after being recorded in detail) to allow the floor level to be lowered by approximately 0.4m. A probable make-up deposit was exposed at the bottom of these excavations, the base of which was not reached. This was overlain by a compacted silty sand that that possibly acted as bedding material for an earlier brick or tile floor. This was overlain by a further make-up deposit that contained fragments of post-medieval clay tobacco pipe. There was no evidence for a burial beneath a large ledger slab, which had been laid as part of the stone floor and was clearly not in its original position. Finds recovered from the more rubbly material beneath this slab included a medieval floor tile fragment, a post-medieval roof tile fragment, additional pieces of post-medieval clay tobacco pipe and a piece of worked horncore. The removal of these deposits partially exposed the tower footings, which consisted of roughly coursed and mortared small, irregular flints – the face of which was flush with the wall above. The footings of the tower were also exposed in the west doorway, where they were shown to continue to a depth of more than 0.5m beneath the stone blocks of the doorway rear arch. Above the mortared flint wall footing was rubbly bedding material for a stone slab that had formally formed an internal threshold or upper step (probably a ledger stone).
The narrow slab forming the threshold of the west doorway was also lifted and repositioned at a slightly lower level as part of these works but this apparently involved little actual digging.
See report (S7) for further information and NHER 68119 for details of discoveries made during external drainage works that took place around the same time. See also photographic archive (S8).
P. Watkins (HES), 22 February 2024.