In September 1933. Albert Einstein was brought to live in a small hut on Roughton Heath after fleeing Nazi Germany. Commander Oliver Locker-Lampson MP offered Einstein a refuge in Norfolk before he travelled to the USA. While here, he was sculpted by Jacob Epstein. A blue plaque commemorating Einstein's stay can be found at the entrance of the New Inn public house which is across the main road from the church,
Roughton church, St Mary's, is one of 124 existing round-tower churches in Norfolk.
St Mary’s Church has one of the most ancient of East Anglia's round towers. Its Saxon origins are evident in the circular double-splayed windows about ten feet up, and the rugged triangular-headed double bell arches. Round-tower churches are found in areas lacking normal building stone, and are therefore built of knapped flint. Corners are difficult to construct in flint, hence the thick, round walls of the towers.
The body of the church is surprisingly big. Built originally in the late 14th/early 15th century, rebuilding with aisles and clerestory, took place during the Victorian era.
The interior remains pretty much entirely Victorian, with garish tiled floors and pitch pine benches. The benches are numbered, and the churchwarden's seat is marked in clear Victorian lettering. The view to the west is the best thing about the inside; the modern screen and organ case are cool, clean and successful –possibly from the 1980s. They post-date the early editions of Pevsner, because he found a doorway above the arch, and this is now obscured. The tower arch is curious and beautiful, echoed by the tiny west window and completing the perspective.
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There is parking immediately outside the church which is accessed from Church Loke, off the A140.
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