This church has served the
tiny coastal village of Burnham Deepdale since, it is believed, the 11th
century. However, although originally thought to be Saxon in origin, the round
tower shows a mixture of influences and is now thought likely to have been built after
1066 using the traditional techniques which survived the Norman invasion.
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The Round Tower has a
triangular headed doorway on the first stage above the tower arch inside the church that
shows this mixture of influences. A special feature is that the base of the tower is
6 inches thicker up to a height of 10 feet. The coursing of the flints does not have
the appearance of Saxon work. A unique feature of East Anglia, there are 175 round
towers still surviving from an original 1000. St Mary's is one of a group of three
in the adjacent parishes of Titchwell, Burnham Norton and Burnham Deepdale.
They were either part of the church or built as an addition. The tower houses a bell
to summon the parishioners to church. The bell in St. Mary's was made in the 14th
century by M. Derby of King's Lynn.
It has, in the past, been considered that square towers were too difficult to build
with the available materials of flint and conglomerate, but that has proved false and it
is more likely that the building of a round tower had a cultural significance. |
An outstanding feature in the church is The
Norman Font which stands just inside the door on the south side of the
nave. In 1797 it was broken while being moved from the north aisle and
was taken to Fincham Rectory for repair. It stayed there in the garden of the
Rectory for forty years before it was finally restored and placed in its present
position. The Norman font is made of Barnack stone from Rutland and is of
special interest because twelve of its carvings shows a calendar of work for the farming
year.
See individual carvings and their meanings.
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