Binham, St Mary: Ragged Ramble, 19th May 2010...
(Ramblers present: Glennoritus, Esotericus, Lorenzo, Doc Ricardo)
We arrived at the former Benedictine priory at Binham, North-West Norfolk, in the late afternoon. As you can see (above) the weather was glorious; perfect blue sky framing the Early English West front...
The commanding structure, which is, today, Binham parish church, was once the nave of a much larger Benedictine priory...
Inside, the scale of the structure is impressive, with the typically over-engineered Norman 'Romanesque' arcades...
A nice example of a Fifteenth century seven sacrament font drew our attention. Esotericus launched into an explanation of the role of these fonts as pre-Reformation Catholic counter-propaganda against the proto-Protestant movement, the Lollards...
Binham has a fine set of medieval bench-ends. Here is a swaddled baby...
The rood screen panels survive. Over-painted with 'The Word' during the Reformation(s), the image of some of the saints' faces show through. Word vs Image - the central tension of the Reformation encapsulated.
Finally, the kindly key-holder - a man who has lived his whole life in the area - allowed us to take a photograph of the splendidly substantial main door key.
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