Human Touches at St Andrew, Frenze, south Norfolk

Rising ground

It was late September and veteran Ragged Rambler, Mr. Dan Many Coats, and I were exploring churches in south Norfolk. That day, we had already visited Illington, Bressingham and East Harling, and were now on the road to St Andrew, Frenze, a short distance from Diss. This lovely little church, in the words of the inestimable D.P. Mortlock & C.V. Roberts, ‘has to be sought out, but [is] worth the effort.’ So it proved to be (even though, upon arrival, the church locked)

The church is situated next to Frenze Hall, and requires a drive of about half-a-mile or so through the hall grounds. Sitting atop a small hill (this is Norfolk, so anything over sea level constitutes a hill!), something about this humble little country church set our ‘church fanciers’ radars twitching with anticipation. As you will see from the photograph, it is basically a nave with a bell-turret and a Tudor brick porch. The church is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust, so we were a little surprised to find it locked. However, as you will see, in many ways this turned out to be something of a blessing.

Tudor period brickwork

Despite initial disappointment we were soon buoyed by the elixier of all Ragged Ramblers – tea! So, we opened our flasks and poured a cup and stood the tea to cool a while, before beginning to explore the exterior of the church.

The first discovery we happened upon was this little angel etched into the glass of the window immediately east of the porch. A crowned angel with curly locks and wings, hovering above a skull and crossbones; most likely drawn by a glazier some time during the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century by our estimation.

‘A lovely thing!’ exclaimed Mr. Many Coats.

Flask + Mortlock & Roberts, 'Norfolk Churches'

Having perambulated the church we returned to the sill where our tea and a well-thumbed copy of Mortlock & Roberts awaited us. As we sat and chatted, it dawned on us what a wonderful Tudor creation this porch was. As is our want, we began to extemporise and were soon conjuring up the scene during the 1500’s as the brickies constructed it. They would have sat and had a sup of ale and got a yarning, just as we were doing. Their days were just as familiar and ‘workaday’ as ours, and yet, for all of the centuries dividing us, we both live(d) during extraordinary times; times of social massive social change, contagion and uncertainty.

‘To think that those Tudors coped with the Reformation and all that other stuff without tea… well, it’s a wonder really isn’t it!’

The impression of fingers lingers...

It was during this conversation that Dan noticed some finger-prints impressed into one of the bricks; the prints of three fingers to be precise. We love discoveries like this! Human touches like these connect us imaginatively with the past in an intimate way. It’s a bit like those carved wooden heads on bench-ends in our churches that shine from the instinctive touch of countless generations of visitors, or – to give a specific example – the tiny paw-prints left by kittens who padded across the wet clay tiles as they lay out in the summer sun at a brick-field so many summers ago, and which, today, can be found on the floor within the grand setting of Salle church (click HERE for more about this).

And then Dan spotted something else. On the east face of the buttress immediately west of the porch window was a small graffito. What makes this one so unusual is that, judging from the paleography, it was carved during the Late Medieval period – probably, the fifteenth century. Probably many such carvings were made, but very few survive in external settings like this. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to decipher it, but it was a great thing to find (one of only three such medieval examples I’m aware of on Norfolk churches).

Writing as I am, on the eve of our second lockdown in Britain, it’s likely that many churches will, regrettably, remain locked. However, as our visit to Frenze proves, taking a good close look at the exteriors of churches can prove to be richly rewarding – and that’s without looking at the gravestones.

Frenze, truly is a charming little church and I intend to return to explore its interior as soon as I can. If it’s half as good on the inside as it is outside, then I’ll be one happy Ragged Rambler!

Composed by Munro Tweeder-Harris, Esq.

© Ragged Ramblers, 2020