NHER 9997 (Building record) - St Michael's Church, Flordon

November 1959. Listed Grade II*.
Listing Description:
Parish church. Medieval and later. Flint with stone dressings and 19th century brick west wall. Plaintiled roofs. Former round western tower, aisleless nave with south porch and vestry to north; chancel. 11th century or 12th century nave with two double-splayed windows and surviving rubble eastern quoins marking original extent of nave. One 14th century 2-light cusped Y-traceried window to south and a similar 3-light east window. Other windows probably Victorian. Victorian bell-cote. 15th century porch with fine moulded entrance and diagonal buttresses. Surviving rood stair. Jacobean pulpit with blind arcading and carved decoration. Fragments of mediaeval stained glass. Victorian roofs.
Information from (S1).

See (S2) with (S3).
E. Rose (NLA).

No tower. Bell cote brick. In north and south walls of the nave are double splayed Late Saxon style windows and remains of quoins that mark the eastern extent of the nave prior to the 14th century.
Information from (S4).
D. Robertson (NLA), 29 November 2005.

Diocesan Advisory Committee note that there is a Gothick clay lump vestry on a brick plinth and that a round west tower fell and was replaced by a brick wall.
E. Rose (NLA), 2 December 2005.

January 2008. Building recording.
The fabric of the church has been left largely untouched following the 1908 restoration and the medieval and later lime renders still survive on the nave. As the roofs are due to be retiled, recommendations have been made to take samples from the early roof of the nave and the possible original chancel roof for dendrochronological analysis.
See (S5).
S. Howard (HES), 29 October 2010.

January 2009.
The wooden beams of the original roof of the church were exposed during repairs to the false ceiling fitted in 1908. The beams have been dated to the early 13th century and are reported to be in good condition, with few repairs having taken place since its construction. The restoration work at the church has been grant aided by English Heritage, and it is hoped that samples will be taken to obtain a date via dendrochronology.
See (S6) for further details.
H. Hamilton (NLA), 30 January 2009.

March 2009. Building Survey.
An area of masonry immediately east of the south east quoin of the nave was observed to have a thin facing of flint built against a plastered surface, indicating that the earlier face of the wall was recessed by 12cms, creating an offset. The nave quoin formed the west jamb of an opening into a transept arm or chapel which has since been blocked. The arch is expressed on the interior by a central section of the archway left in situ, forming the head of a window. The window is a re-use of a thirteenth century form before the advent of tracery in the 1240's. The blocking of the arch and the demolition of the chapel probably took place in the later middle ages. A second archway to the west is marked in the plaster of both sides of the wall. The opening is much too large for a simple doorway and it is therefore assumed to be another chapel. The presence of these two archways indicates the probable intention of building an aisle, and that the project was abandoned. The area of fallen masonry has allowed the eastern jamb of the former archway to be located.
See (S7) for further details
H. White (NLA), 29 May 2009.

Inspection 2009.
The nave roof proved to be a complete 13th-century roof of the collar and soulace variety with trusses set very close together. Traces of the earlier Norman roof were found also. The timber proved to be unsuitable for dendrochronolgy. However, it can confidently dated to the early 13th century + or - 20 years and contemporary with the lengthening of the nave (see S5).
S. Heywood (HES), 22 January 2014.

January and March 2013. Watching Brief.
Monitoring of various works including the installation of a mains water supply, a new floor and a new external drainage system.
The reduction of the floor levels within the nave and the vestry revealed little of note. The removal of dark brown sandy silt layers exposed brownish grey and greyish brown sandy clay deposits. No finds were recovered within the church.
The various drainage trenches excavated to the north of the church revealed no archaeologically-significant remains, with finds limited to a small quantity of disarticulated human skeletal remains. Although up to 0.9m deep these trenches did not reach the base of the thick subsoil layer present. The base of this deposit was also not encountered within a 1.6m deep rainwater soakaway dug to the west of the church.
Between 0.2m and 0.3m removed
See report (S8) for further details.
P. Watkins (HES), 7 July 2025.