NHER 5894 (Monument record) - Site of St Giles' Church, Thetford

Angle of King Street and St Giles Lane.
(S1) drew it, calling it St Egidius. Shows south side with four very high-set windows, two blank and one cusped, another cusped much smaller as if there had been a lean-to below. The east window is Decorated (14th century). The roof is thatched at the top but tiled at the bottom! He noted it had been a wheelwright's shop for 'some years'.
(S2) wrongly states that it stood on the south side of King Street opposite the lane (But (S1) above confirms correct site). (S2) also
states that it still had a Gothic window in 1829 when used as a barn.
(S3) notes some remains of church visible.

December 1949. In building alterations to Anglian Café.
Seven human skeletons found by workmen. The kitchen is being constructed in St Giles' Church, and it was while clearing rubble away from one of the collapsed church walls that the workmen discovered the skulls.
See (S4) in file (Noted R. R. Clarke (NCM)) - who also notes on card 'misc querns from site of St Giles'.
R.R. Clarke (NCM), 1949.

Photograph by H. Ashley (NMR) 1982 shows a stone block carved with St Andrew's cross in relief (date?) in a wall of the Halifax Building Society (22-4 King Street on this site).
E. Rose (NAU), 3 December 1982.

(S2)'s window information is from a print (negative copy at NAU) showing a large 14th century east window and incidentally confirming (S1)'s siting!.
E. Rose (NAU).

The church became a hermitage in 1509.
Information from A. Davison.
E. Rose (NAU).

(S5) states that there do not appear to be any in situ remains of the church, but the external walls of Halifax Building Society are studded with reused limestone blocks. A depiction of the church by Wilkinson in 1822 shows the church from the east. (S6) cited in (S5) comments that 'it is turned into a barn, the steeple (if there was one) being quite down, and a new gable in its place'. This indicated that the building depicted in the 18th century is a truncated form of the original church, with a new gable at its west end. It seems that the nave (and tower if it had one) was demolished and the chancel converted for use by a hermit in the latter half of the 15th century.
Information from (S5).
A. Cattermole (NLA), 7 August 2008.

August-November 2013. Watching Brief.
A large hole dug for tree planting in the south-west corner of St Giles Car Park exposed three human skeletons at TL 8703 8313. These lay at a depth of approximately 0.7m below ground level and were presumably associated with St Giles' Church. The one skeleton that was fully exposed had two large flints placed to either side of its head, suggesting it had not been interred within a coffin. An east-to-west aligned chalk and mortar wall foundation of uncertain date and nature was exposed nearby.
See report (S7) and NHER 67183 for further details.
An archive associated with this work has been deposited with Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 2025.126).
P. Watkins (HES), 1 August 2023 and 24 August 2024.