St Peter Mancroft, Norwich
St Peter Mancroft, Norwich
St Peter Mancroft on the Market Place is Norwich’s largest surviving medieval parish church, a Grade I Perpendicular great church begun in 1430 and dedicated in 1455, in the Diocese of Norwich.
- Location
- Norwich, Norfolk
- Country
- England
- County
- Norfolk
- City / town
- Norwich
- Address
- Market Place, Norwich, Norfolk, NR2 1RD
- Postcode
- NR2 1RD
- Built
- 1430–55 (present church); site from 1075
- Consecrated
- 1455
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Peter
- Diocese
- Norwich
- Parish
- Norwich, St Peter Mancroft with St John Maddermarket
- Grade
- I
- Style
- Perpendicular
- Materials
- Ashlar and flushwork, lead roofs
- Grid reference
- TG 229 084
- Opening hours
- The church is an oasis of calm for workers, shoppers and tourists alike in the centre of this bustling city. It is open Monday to Saturday throughout the year between 10am and 4pm (closing at 3.30pm in winter).
- Access
- Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets nearby
Overview
A church has stood here since the Normans laid out the market below the castle in 1075. Historic England records a fifteenth-century parish church of ashlar and flushwork with lead roofs: west tower, nave and chancel in one, aisles and porches, transepts, and a three-storey east vestry. The three-stage tower has extravagant statue niches, blind arcading and flushwork, a tierceron vault inside, and a late-nineteenth-century spirelet. The six-bay nave has a fine hammer-beam roof whose hammers are concealed by ribbed coving; the east window is of seven lights, repaired in 1648.
The church is known for its medieval stained glass, a timber font canopy, and a pioneering role in change-ringing. John Wesley, visiting Norwich, wrote that he scarcely remembered a more beautiful parish church. It is a member of the Greater Churches Network. Listed Grade I on 26 February 1954 (NHLE 1210490); listing NGR TG2293208426. The parish is Norwich, St Peter Mancroft with St John Maddermarket.