Tag: St. Mary’s Church Arminghall

The historic record for Arminghall Church notes that there was a sixteenth century wall painting of St. Christopher which was destroyed. I was intrigued to know exactly when this little piece of destruction took place, and I have been able to narrow it down to the summer of 1876.

It was during late 1876 that a group from the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society decided to take a trip to numerous locations across the county. One of them was a visit to St. Mary’s which they discovered was “undergoing repair”. This was indeed the case, as John Pollard Seddon was leading a large restoration and rebuilding of the church, changing it to reflect Victorian requirements.

I can imagine the group’s irritation when they discovered that Seddon had done away with what was apparently a beautiful wall painting, replacing it what he must have thought was a delightful white wall. The report from the time says that the group discovered that the painting on the south wall had been “stripped” and added “much to the chagrin of a few of the party”. I’m surprised he managed to only upset a few of the party….

Fortunately a copy of the murals had been drawn before they had been destroyed, I’ll have to at some point look for that…..

There is a story in the Norfolk Chronicle in 1898 that an elderly local countryman had told their correspondent that there was a tunnel which led from Caistor camp to Arminghall Church. The correspondent didn’t take that suggestion very seriously, but he noted that the countryman had said that he himself had been in the Caistor end. I still like this story, which is somewhat beyond the realms of possibility, solely because it adds a little extra magic to the church.