---
title: "St Mary Magdalene, Pentney"
description: "Located in Pentney, Norfolk. Built C12 nave core and later medieval tower, nave and chancel; roof of 1850. Diocese of Norwich. Grade I. Norman and Gothic style."
category: "Church"
tags: ["Church","Church of England","Norfolk","Pentney","Grade I","Norman","Gothic"]
canonical: "https://thebritishgazette.com/post/pentney-st-mary-magdalene"
pubDate: "2026-09-06T02:29:51.711Z"
dateModified: "2026-09-08T16:00:26.516Z"
location: "Pentney, Norfolk"
country: "England"
county: "Norfolk"
town: "Pentney"
address: "Bilney Road, Pentney, Norfolk, PE32 1GH"
postcode: "PE32 1GH"
built: "C12 nave core and later medieval tower, nave and chancel; roof of 1850"
denomination: "Church of England"
dedications: ["Mary"]
diocese: "Norwich"
grade: "I"
style: "Norman and Gothic"
materials: "Rendered carstone and flint; slate roof; tower of uncoursed flint with brick, tile and limestone"
openingHours: "The church is open every day during daylight hours."
parish: "Pentney"
listEntryUrl: "https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1077623"
gridReference: "TF 720 138"
accessNotes: "Level access to the main areas"
---

# St Mary Magdalene, Pentney

St Mary Magdalene is a Grade I parish church on Bilney Road, Pentney, Norfolk, in the Diocese of Norwich: a long carstone church with a twelfth-century nave core and a later medieval west tower.

## Overview

Historic England lists a parish church of the twelfth century and later. The west tower is uncoursed whole flint with some brick, tiles and limestone, stone dressings, four stepped diagonal buttresses, a chequerwork plinth, reticulated bell-openings and an embattled flint-chequer parapet. The long nave and chancel, now in one, are rendered carstone under a slate roof, with a south porch. A small twelfth-century semi-circular headed lancet survives to the left of the porch. The chancel is carstone rubble with galletted upper eaves courses.

Inside, a twelve-bay roof of 1850 has arched braces to the nave and scissor braces to the chancel. The central four bays of the nave have thicker twelfth-century walls, now raised, incorporating fragments of interlaced arcading with cushion capitals. There is a large tall piscina with a plain trefoil head and a plain octagonal font. A Church Near You notes an east window of 1885 by Ward and Hughes, a memorial to Charles Carnegie Thackeray. The church is open every day during daylight hours.

## Further Information

- [Historic England list entry 1077623](https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1077623)
- [British Listed Buildings: Church of St Mary Magdalene, Pentney](https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101077623-church-of-st-mary-magdalene-pentney)