St Andrew, Quidenham is a lovely little church set in the small
Norfolk hamlet of Quidenham. Quidenham is known throughout East
Anglia because it is home to two splendid institutions, the
Carmelite convent and the Children's Hospice. Both do excellent
work, and their friendliness and beauty are either a symptom of
Quidenham life, or have rubbed off on it, because St Andrew is also
a friendly, beautiful church.
St Andrew's Saxon tower has been augmented in a most elaborate
fashion, a tall early Perpendicular bell stage topped off with the
drama of a spire. It goes to make the church appear larger than it
actually is, particularly if you approach from the south and see
the 19th century aisle on this side.
The buttresses on this aisle are worth looking at, because they
have flushwork monograms set into them. It is easy to assume that
they are Victorian conceits, but Mortlock might be right in
suggesting that they are genuine medieval features reused from
elsewhere or perhaps from the base course of a square tower at
another church.
There is an aisle, but there is no clerestory, and consequently
St Andrew is rather dark inside. However, it is not gloomy, because
the windows are filled with richly coloured glass of the late 19th
and early 20th centuries. Those at the east and west ends of the
aisle are lighter, creating a space which is less dark than the
nave. Around the walls, memorials, as well as several of the
windows, remember members of the Keppel family of Quidenham Hall.
The war memorial window in the aisle is particularly striking,
depicting a WWII airman looking up at a vision of Christ.
We would like to thank the Rector - Revd. David Hill - for
allowing us to place caches in the six parishes 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 - Canary_Dan - 03/06/11 ***