St. Mary's

About the Church of St Mary, Little Fransham

The Tower collapsed in 1700 and was totally removed and in times of drought one may still discern marks in the grass to the West of the Church indicating the footings of the Church Tower. Three Bells from the tower were then hung under a thatched shelter in the churchyard, such as may be seen at Woodrising today. Two of those bells were soon sold to pay for the rehanging of the third, and this was achieved by raising the porch to a second storey. The blacksmith made tie-beams of iron to strengthen the porch and he used numbers instead of plates to terminate these tie-rods. This tells us the date of the conversion of the porch into a belfry, i.e. 1743. The surviving bell was later recast and it now bears the inscription:- “William Dobson, Downham Market Fecit 1815”.

The West Window is of the domestic type used in 1700 and occupies the place of the tower arch: it could have been taken from a substantial private house at that time. It has a transom and four lights. In the same period the South West window of the Nave was blocked up. That was a time when people had little or no enthusiasm for spending money on embellishing Norfolk churches. The Nave Windows have cusped Y-tracery, which is typical of the period around 1300 and one might wonder whether the tower was about that time also. The recorded list of Rectors for this parish begins with one in 1306 and may be found in Hugh Bryant’s “Norfolk Churches”. This Church was of course going strong long before that, but the written evidence is lacking and we must look for evidence to the font. The Chancel Windows have lovely flowing tracery, which in date follows soon after the Nave windows, say before 1350. They include the complicated and most beautiful design, called double reticulated which was the height of achievement in the Decorated Period, and has given pleasure to so many for 650 years.

The Font dates from the 12th century when there was a transitional time between the Norman and early English Periods. Each side of the square massive bowl is different. Different sets of arches decorate three sides and on the fourth there are flowers. It has been suggested that the odd pillar may originally have been in the middle and used for the drain. This square font is curiously not set square with the church walls. The Nave Roof has medieval hammer beams with the most glorious carving in the spandrels with various tracery designs. There are also longitudinal braces The Royal Arms now hang on the North wall and are the arms of George IIl after the Union with Ireland of 1801. The Chancel Interior was restored in 1891 when the flooring was laid and the oak choir stalls were installed. At the same time a vestry was added.

There were Guilds in this church of St Peter and St Mary and lights of the Holy Trinity and Saint Sepulchre in Medieval times. The level sedilia now has very nice Jacobean panelling fitted at the back The choir stalls are partly restored old ones with traceried backs and unidentifiable animals on the arm rests, which we can only describe as grotesques. The Memorials include a pleasing set of mural tablets to the Dickens family. Lt Mark Dickens of the 35th Foot Regiment died at St Lucia in the West Indies in 1827. His mother died in 1824 and his father in 1825. Then there was Thomas Dickens, died in 1781, whose crest is a lion rampant holding a cross, and Lt.Col Thomas Mark Dickens who served in the Engineers and died in 1832. Further stones in the floor remember a widow and 3 daughters of Thomas Dickens. In the chancel note the Alpe memorials, starting with Robert Alpe, died 1702. His arms are a chevron between 3 stags’ heads, and his crest is plume of 3 feathers on a wreath.