NHER 8521 (Building record) - All Saints' Church, Hemblington

All Saints' Church.
Round tower, Saxo-Norman, or else later with reset Late Saxon stonework. Reset Norman stonework in church. Chancel about 1300, Nave 14th century Decorated with some 15th century Perpendicular windows and roof (reconstructed 1910). Traces of important wall paintings. Stone coffin slab.
Listed grade I.
See (S1).
E. Rose (NAU), 15 February 1990.

Wall paintings discovered 1932 on north nave wall. Large 15th century St Christopher and scenes from his life and martyrdom. These include the Saint shot with arrows, and the two women who were sent to tempt him in prison.
Information from (S2).
M. Dennis (NLA), 15 February 2006.

January 2015. Excavation.
Excavation of footings for small extension on north side of church and connecting trench for a new sewerage system.
An east-to-west aligned linear feature identified just to the north of the nave wall proved to be the robbed out remains of a medieval wall; possibly the remains of a former north aisle. The lower portion of this feature contained banded deposits of the kind that typically form the footings for larger medieval walls in the county. Little trace of the wall itself survived other than a mix of flint and mortar debris. The footings were clearly truncated by the construction trench for the extant nave wall, demonstrating that the robbed-out wall had been demolished prior to or during the rebuilding of the nave in the 14th-century. Banded deposits were also noted beneath the stone footings of the nave wall.
Also noted during this work was an unusual petroglyph on a buttress by the north door of the church, which may have been some form of medieval or post-medieval graffiti.
See report (S3) and NHER 61934 for further information, including details of the graves and other features identified within the churchyard.
P. Watkins (HES), 3 November 2016.