Bawdeswell – All Saints’ Church (Reconstruction After the Second World War)

There’s a display board at the church which shows the post-war reconstruction of the building after it was mostly destroyed following an aircraft crash during the Second World War. The RAF Mosquito bomber crashed into the building on 6 November 1944, the only incident during the Second World War where a church was destroyed by an aircraft hitting it, as opposed to a bomb or other aerial attack. The task of rebuilding the church fell to the War Damages Commission and it took a few years to get going, with the work commencing in March 1953. The design for the new church was entrusted to Norwich architect J. Fletcher-Watson, who also designed the Bishop’s House in Norwich. He envisioned a Neo-Georgian style structure, a distinct contrast to many other village churches and one which I think looks rather elegant.

There was an argument though which started before the reconstruction started, when the Parochial Church Council objected that the new spire was a potential hazard to low flying aircraft. I can see their concern given what had happened, but the architects rejected the complaint that this wasn’t a traditional Norfolk church design and the Chancellor of the Diocese made the adjudication that construction could begin.

The foundation stone for the new All Saints’ Church was laid by Sir Edmund Bacon, Bt. on 21 July 1953. The Rector at the time, the Reverend Heywood Gerard Benson Folland (1903-1976), who had arrived in Bawdeswell only a few weeks before the plane crashed, demonstrated great fortitude in organising the building of the new church in what was obviously a sub-optimal situation. While the new church was under construction, the congregation used a Primitive Methodist Chapel in the village for worship. The construction, carried out with Messrs Philip Pank & Partners as Quantity Surveyors, was completed and the new church was dedicated by the Bishop of Norwich, the Revd P M Herbert, on 27 September 1955. The primary costs for the rebuilding were £12,500, with additional expenses for the spire (almost £700), furnishings (£1,000), and the organ (£650) among other fittings.