St Mary the Virgin, North Tuddenham
St Mary the Virgin, North Tuddenham
St Mary the Virgin is a Grade I parish church on Mattishall Lane, North Tuddenham, Norfolk, in the Diocese of Norwich, a wide aisleless Perpendicular church with a fourteenth-century west tower.
- Location
- North Tuddenham, Norfolk
- Country
- England
- County
- Norfolk
- City / town
- North Tuddenham
- Address
- Mattishall Lane, North Tuddenham, Norfolk, NR20 3DQ
- Postcode
- NR20 3DQ
- Built
- C14 west tower; nave and chancel largely Perpendicular
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Mary
- Diocese
- Norwich
- Parish
- North Tuddenham
- Grade
- I
- Style
- Decorated tower and Perpendicular nave and chancel
- Materials
- Flint with ashlar and brick dressings; slate and pantile roofs
- Grid reference
- TG 055 129
- Opening hours
- Generally open in the summer at weekends or by arrangement with churchwardens. Morning prayer on Fridays. Coach tour bookings accepted.
- Access
- Accessible toilets nearby. Level access throughout. Level access to the main areas. Ramp or level access available on request
- Website
- https://matvchurch.uk/
Overview
Historic England lists a medieval and later parish church of flint with ashlar and brick dressings under slate and pantile roofs: a western tower, an exceptionally wide aisleless nave with a two-storey north porch, and a chancel. The fourteenth-century tower has chequer flushwork on the diagonal buttresses, a moulded west doorway, a three-light Perpendicular window above, and a crenellated parapet with flushwork and crocketed corner pinnacles. Historic England’s 2020 repair notice dated the tower as the earliest part and noted a single bell of about 1380. The nave has six three-light panel-traceried Perpendicular windows; the chancel has four three-light side windows and a Victorian five-light east window in Perpendicular style.
Inside, the lower nave and chancel walls are faced with colourful Victorian encaustic tiles. A fifteenth-century chancel-screen dado retains eight painted saints; four further late medieval painted panels are reset in the tower screen. The listing also records high-quality medieval glass in the nave, west window and porch. The church stood on the Heritage at Risk Register from 2017; Historic England funded emergency tower works completed in 2022. It is part of the Mattishall and Tudd Valley Benefice.