St Mary The Virgin is a fine grade 1 listed church set in the
small Norfolk village of Banham.
The church structure was nearly all built during the first two
thirds of the fourteenth century, during the reigns of the first
three Kings Edward. During these years there were wars in Scotland
and in France, constant fighting between barons at home and the
devastation of the Black Death in 1349. The death of so many masons
during this time is reflected in the church building in the gradual
changing of styles and the time taken to complete the work. The
basic material of the building is the natural flint of the area,
and as is usual with Norfolk churches, white freestone was
sparingly used for windows and framing because it had to be brought
laboriously from quarries in Northamptonshire. More detail here
This is a well used church, so please be sensitive when
visiting. Your path will take you through the lovely churchyard -
enjoy it, and be sympathetic to other visitors and 'residents'.
We would like to thank the Rector - Revd. David Hill - for
allowing us to place caches in the six churches in the Quidenham Group of Parishes.
Hopefully you will take advantage of your visit to explore the
churches themselves.
If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I
would just ask that you could let Sadexploration
know first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to
avoid duplication
*** FTF - gimmealook - 05/06/11 ***