Melton Constable – St. Mary’s (Burgh Parva) Old Church
This is what remains of St. Mary’s church which is located near to Melton Constable, in what was once the parish of Burgh Parva. This medieval village has long since gone and the church was always a relatively small one. It’s thought that the church was constructed during the later part of the fifteenth century and the early part of the sixteenth century. David Kennett in his Norfolk Villages book notes:
“In 1845, White’s Directory described Melton Constable with Burgh Parva as a fertile parish of 1,700 acres. They had 114 inhabitants in 1831, but only 75 in 1841, several families having emigrated to America”.
There’s otherwise very little historical text that I can find about this church, just guesswork about the exact building dates.
The Norfolk Heritage web-site mentions that the church was likely ruinated in the reign of King Charles II, but the chancel had likely gone following the Reformation as some of the stone has been repurposed into the nearby hall. The tower is looking remarkably robust given how long it’s been standing, although it’s evident that there have been some repairs over recent decades. As can be seen, an advanced system to keep people out has been erected around the church.
The door had been filled in with stone before the church mostly fell down. I accept that I wonder about strange things, but it would be interesting to know when the last person to walk through that door was (the actual door, not the new hole that has appeared).
The church evidently wasn’t that large judging from the size and there’s no evidence of there being any aisles.
There’s one other section of wall remaining which seems to be near the end of the former nave.
Inside the church tower.
The former roof line is still visible. There have been some Saxon and early Norman finds here and it’s possible that there was a church here at that time, although equally, the stone might have been moved across to this as a new site.
Due to the substantial increase in the population of nearby Melton Constable, a temporary iron church was constructed in 1903 and it’s still there. But more on that in the next riveting instalment of this blog….