St Mary The Virgin

About the Church of St Mary The Virgin, Beeston

This church with its spire, which is unusual for Norfolk, can be seen for miles and is particularly remembered for its very fine window tracery. It has managed to keep the particularly elaborate Decorated Tracery from the 14C in all its ground floor windows, except for the simpler Y tracery in the tower west window.

The nave roof was raised in the 15C, when taller clerestory windows were added, but original 14C quatrefoil clerestory windows can still be seen, filled in on the south and totally blocked on the north side. The additional height also enabled a window to be put into the nave’s east gable to give more light for the roof. At the same time the Tower was heightened by the addition of a complete new belfry, with perpendicular openings, on top of the earlier one with y tracery.

The north porch has a fine chequer work pattern in black flint and grey stone panels.