NHER 588 (Building record) - St Helen's Church and the Infirmary Hall at the Great Hospital, Norwich

Medieval hospital and parish church.

February 1954. Listed, Grade I.
Listing Description Excerpt:
"Church of St Helen.
Medieval hospital and parish church. 13th, 14th, and 15th century with major 16th-century and later alterations. Flint and brick rubble; stone dressings; slate roof replacing lead roofs stripped in 1809-10; three red brick chimneys. Aisled infirmary hall, nave, chancel, south transept, south porch and south-west tower with additions, including first floor in chancel and infirmary hall and stair towers on the south side."
Information from (S1).
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S1) for the current details.
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 17 January 2018. Amended H. Hamilton (HES), 8 November 2019.

1970s or 1980s. Building Survey.
St Helen's Church examined as part of Norwich Survey.
See draft report (S2) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 17 January 2018.

1991. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of trial excavation in south churchyard.
Modern garden soils only disturbed. Footings uncovered.
No formal report produced. See notes (S3) for further details.
A. Shelley (NAU), 25 July 1991.

September-October 1992. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of excavation of trench along the exterior of St Helen's Church.
This trench was excavated through 0.85m of what appeared to be modern made ground.
See report (S4) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 15 February 2017.

S. Heywood (NCC) notes that one staircase tower includes part of the demolished aisle.

It is noted in (S5) that the pulpit is in front of the blocked chancel arch, the altar is in the south transept but the pews in the same transept face the pulpit not the altar, in pre-Ecclesiological practice.
E. Rose (NLA), 24 May 2002.

2001-2002. Dendrochronological Survey.
A dendrochronological date of 1403 was ascertained for timbers of Parker Ward (former nave of church), and 1378-99 for the relict south aisle truss (see note by S. Heywood above). Both timbers were from the same woodland source. Work was also carried out on the cloisters (see NHER 26113).
See report (S6) in file.
E. Rose (NLA), 27 February 2003.

2001. Building Survey.
Recording and analysis of the chancel east window.
The east window mixes decorated and perpendicular motifs in a way not seen anywhere else since AD 1400 and its most likely date based on the style is the 1430s. The window has clearly been inserted in an existing opening and was made for that opening rather than being imported from another building. The tracery is not contemporary with the window jambs as indicated by the differences in mouldings, the type of stone and the way the arch and window stonework is not fastened together. The flooring of the chancel is dated to AD 1579 and there are two phases of blocking of the eastern end, the first around the mid-16th century possible due to damage during the Ketts Rebellion of AD 1549 and the second at the time of structural modifications. The main east window has not been subject to a major Victorian overhaul which is unusual for a design of this size and importance.
See report (S14) and brief (S15) for further information.
S. Howard (HES), 26 October 2010.

January 2006. Field Observation.
Inspection of interior of tower indicated that it is all of around 1380; there is a bequest of 1375.
See short report (S7) for further details.
E. Rose (NLA), 14 January 2006.

March 2006. Dendrochronological Survey.
The tree-ring data for Derlyngham Tower was unsuccessful as the tree-ring sequence was too short for reliable analysis.
See report (S8) for further details.
S. Howard (HES), 26 October 2010.

See press cuttings (S9) and (S10) in file.
T. Sunley (NLA), 7 November 2007.

2008.
Norwich HEART:
An exceptional set of medieval hospital buildings, in continuous use for more than 750 years
The medieval hospital buildings and layout resemble those of a monastery or priory and are set around the smallest cloister in England. The Great Hospital is the only English medieval hospital whose archives and fabric together survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
See (S11) and (S12).
D. Gurney (NLA), 27 January 2009.

July 2010. Building Survey.
The southern doorway of the eastern wall of the cloister at the Great Hospital in Norwich was recorded ahead of an application to widen the existing entrance and to establish whether there was any evidence for an earlier doorway into which the current doorway may have been inserted. The survey suggest that this is unlikely that an earlier doorway existed to the south but it is possible that one may have existed to the north.
See report (S13) for further details.
The associated archive has been deposited with the Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2011.506).
S. Howard (NLA), 18 August 2010. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 22 July 2019.