St Mary, Burgh Parva
St Mary, Burgh Parva
St Mary, Burgh Parva, beside Holt Road on the edge of Melton Constable, Norfolk, is a Grade II ruined medieval church sharing its churchyard with a 1903 corrugated-iron parish church still in use, in the Diocese of Norwich.
- Location
- Burgh Parva, Norfolk
- Country
- England
- County
- Norfolk
- City / town
- Burgh Parva
- Address
- Burgh Parva, Norfolk, NR24 2PU
- Postcode
- NR24 2PU
- Built
- Medieval church ruined after 1665; corrugated-iron church consecrated 1903
- Consecrated
- 1903 (tin tabernacle)
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Mary
- Diocese
- Norwich
- Parish
- Burgh Parva St Mary
- Grade
- II
- Style
- Medieval ruin; 1903 tin tabernacle
- Materials
- Ruin: flint and stone with brick battlements. Church: corrugated iron, wood-lined
- Grid reference
- TG 043 336
- Opening hours
- The church is open every day from about 10am to dusk except when we have champers (camping in the church) or events.
- Access
- Level access to the main areas
Overview
Historic England lists the ruins of St Mary (NHLE 1049219, 6 March 1959): a medieval west tower rebuilt in 1504, of flint with stone dressings, a Perpendicular west window, knapped-flint belfry and early nineteenth-century gault-brick battlements, with conglomerate quoins that suggest pre-1100 fabric. Norfolk Heritage Explorer records that the church was consolidated with Melton in 1665 and fell into ruin. The site is that of the deserted medieval village of Burgh Parva.
When Melton Constable became a Midland and Great Northern railway junction in the 1870s, a temporary corrugated-iron church was consecrated in the same graveyard in 1903. A competition for a permanent stone church produced no built winner; the tin tabernacle remains in use. It is not itself listed and is not in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. A reredos came in 1951 from the bombed church of St Philip, Norwich. The parish is Burgh Parva St Mary, in the benefice with Briston, Hindolveston and Melton Constable.