Burgh ParvaMelton Constable

Melton Constable – St. Mary’s (Burgh Parva) New Church

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The old church at Burgh Parva has mostly fallen down and if the village of Melton Constable hadn’t been transformed by the railways, then the remains of that building are likely all that would remain today. However, the village population increased tenfold in just a few decades and it was evident that a new church was needed.

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This building wasn’t meant to be permanent, but they’ve never quite built a new one. On 4 April 1903, the Norfolk Chronicle reported that:

“During the process of excavating and levelling the land round the old church for the purpose of the new churchyard, the foundations of the walls of the old churchyard have been found.”

This churchyard in the front of the image above is the newly opened section. It was reported in the local press later in 1903 that:

“Mr Ritson Batson Woods, at the age of 97, has constructed an oak lectern and presented it to the new Burgh Parva (temporary) Church of St. Mary, to be transferred to the permanent building as soon as it has been restored.”

There seems to have been a difference of opinion between whether to restore the old church or whether to construct an entirely new modern church instead, which is perhaps why a decision was never quite taken on what to do. There were fund raising exercises that went on for some time, but there is something quite homely about this tin construction.