Norfolk Churches web site has this to say about the church here
St James the Less, Norwich
There can be few more curious towers in Norfolk than that of St James the Less. The church is broadly 15th century, but the tower was built within the nave, as at Thurton and Bramerton. This results in a three-way partitioning of the west end, as if it was intended to house chapels in one cause or another. As if this wasn't odd enough, the top was given a fancy polygonal turret in the 18th century. At first sight, it might appear a round tower; but it isn't. Perhaps it was intended as a landmark, and for much of the 19th century this church was apparently the home of a particularly firebrand form of protestant muscular Christianity.
Until the 1930s, this was a densely populated area of terraced streets and small factories. Virtually all of this has gone today; firstly, Barrack Street was widened in 1938 for the inner ring road, and then the entire area was almost completely destroyed by German bombs one night in January 1942, St James miraculously escaping. St Paul, 50 metres to the west, was burnt out and has today completely disappeared. In the photographs below, you can see George Plunkett's view in 1931 - apart from the church, every single other thing in this photograph has gone today. The second photograph, taken in 1938, shows the church after the widening of Barrack Street - the new flats beyond the church on Wroxham Road also escaped the blitz, and survive today. The last picture, in the weeks before the war, shows the north side, with roadworks going on. The spot this photograph was taken from is now within the four lanes of the modern inner ring road.
For a couple of reasons, St James is now one of the best known of Norwich churches, despite having been redundant for half a century. Firstly, it sits on a mound right beside a roundabout on the busy inner ring road. But secondly and more fondly, it has been the home since the early 1980s to a puppet theatre
The fine font, with the twelve apostles on the panels, has been moved to a church in Sprowston, but the Victorian stone pulpit survives on the south side of the auditorium and is occasionally pressed into use for productions. The former rood loft stair case now allows access to the lighting rig. The upper storey of the porch is also used as workshop space.
St James seems to me the most wholly successful conversion of a medieval church that I have ever seen, a happy place totally in accord with the spirit of its medieval life, as if the years of dour protestantism had never intervened.
Simon Knott, November 2005
The given co-ordinates are for a cache that is placed by the Church so you can grab that before you look round for the answers to the questions. All answers can be found without entering the Church but you will have to walk round the building to find the answers
John Low died Nov 19 17X2 aged C1
Number of Gargoyles visible when looking at West elevation of Church= A
Total number of fingers of creature supporting South West corner of Church = Y
Wife of Geo Low died on Jan 18 1B83
Z number of windows in octagonal section of tower.
Final is located at N 52 38.ABC E 001 17 XYZ
The safest way to get to the cache is to walk down the side of the flyover and cross under the dual carriageway.
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