Stock photography picture of Village Church with farm buildings Warham Norfolk UK March

AWAFPK - Licenced Caption Village Church with farm buildings Warham Norfolk UK March Description St Mary Magdalen is a bit of a star. In this area of Norfolk with so many churches but so few people, it is doubly disadvantaged, because this tiny village has two large medieval churches, All Saints near the village centre and this one on the road to Wells. How could it ever have been needed? What possible reason is there for it to survive? It nearly didn't. Originally, there were two ecclesiastical parishes here, and as each church had many functions beyond mere congregational worship, they thrived. After the Reformation they were, not unreasonably, brought together, St Mary Magdalen's parish being subsumed into that of All Saints, and this church becoming a chapel of ease to the other. Even so, they are less than a mile apart, and as Norfolk's rural population fell dramatically through the second half of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th, this church fell increasingly into disuse. Eventually, it was nearly lost to us. It is not a large church, but it has a number of features of outstanding interest. You first come to it enclosed by a high wall with heavy wrought-iron gates, presumably a product of the iron workers at Thornham. It has an air of privacy about it; I was reminded of the walled cemeteries you so often find on the edge of villages in western France. It was about 9.30 am on a Sunday morning. We had just passed Wells St Nicholas, so we knew there would not be a service on here (what an irony that would have been!). I lifted the latch on the gate, and stepped inside. The uncut grass of the churchyard was high and wet in this early May. A rich smell of earth and cold. The tower, at first sight 14th century, is probably much older below the bell stage. The nave is slightly offset to the south, and is probably as 15th century as it looks. A fine Tudor window in the south wall of the chancel is beside a little priest door porch as at Knapton and Trunch. Around on the north side is the utilitarian red brick Turner mausoleum.