Taverham Church

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The Norfolk Archaeological & Historical Research Group

Taverham Church Judy Sims

Taverham Parochial Council wanted to install a permanent loo in a secluded part of the churchyard. They were given permission and I was asked to monitor the work. One day, as the work was nearing completion, bricks were found close to the north-east buttress of the chancel. They were in a heap with no full size bricks amongst them. I rescued two which looked interesting for dating purposes.

I guessed that the date of the larger one might be 18^th century and asked Mary and Derek Manning of the Norfolk Industrial Archaeological Society (NIAS) for their thoughts. Having suggested that one of the bricks might be 15^th century Mary suggested that I contact the Rural Life Museum since they have inherited the brick library from the Bridewell, but no-one could offer to date them.

A report in the September issue of the Norfolk Historic Buildings Group (NHBG) Newsletter about a dayschool on bricks in Essex revived hope so I contacted Rosemary Forrest for more details. One of the speakers was Peter Minter of the Bulmer Brick & Tile Company near Sudbury. He impressed them with his range of knowledge and he kindly agreed to see me. I subsequently learnt that he and his firm have worked on sites as far apart as Stiffkey and Somerset and he is extremely interesting as well as knowledgeable.

The larger of the two bricks measures 4 ⅞ x 2 ⅜ x ? He suggested that originally its length was about 10 ½ - 11 inches. Bricks this size would normally be dated to the 15^th century but since it came from Norfolk it was probably earlier – because that’s the way it is.

We then looked at the dimensions of bricks from the 14^th century. Thornton Abbey 11 x 5 ½ x 2 inches (1380); Beverley Minster 10 ½ x 5 x 2 inches (1335). Peter Minter has found bricks of similar dimensions to these early ones around Bulmer and at one site there was a coin in the mortar dated to 1330. y the 15^th century the length of bricks is more standard at about 9 inches.

After his initial suggestions about the early date I informed him that the village was a Cathedral priory manor and this information helped me make the picture much clearer in his mind and convinced him that the brick most probably dated from between 1350 and 1380.

The mortar used on the brick is made of good quality lime mortar being described as febrily hydraulic, which means it is very hard and could set under water. His son explained that mortar varies considerably according to the material used, chalk produces a crumbly mortar, limestone is better and as extra elements are added, as the Romans did, it becomes harder (now we call it cement). There is an excellent geological map in their office marked with pins for all their commissions. The best source in Norfolk is in the west of the county, and this mortar probably originated there, where a seam runs from Hillingdon to Wheathamstead in Hertfordshire; two sites which the company has worked on. (Sedgeford was also a priory manor).

Peter Minter believes that monks brought brick building to England, it spread outwards from London to north and west, and they employed the best people. There is also the East Anglian connection with Flanders and the Hansa League.

During the latter part of the 14^th century, following the Black Death, Taverham was one of many churches to build a gild chapel. This one was built on the north wall of the chancel, with access from the 14^th century moulded doorway just west of the altar rail. The scars of the building on the exterior, including the corbel table, suggest it was about 5 metres wide. In Edward VI’s reign gild chapels were abolished and the chapel became a vestry. It was eventually allowed to become ‘decayed’ and in 1765 the lord of the manor, Thomas Sotherton, obtained a faculty to turn it into the family vault.

Having had time to think about the various building phases at Taverham, it is possible to suggest that the early brick was used in the building of the gild chapel on the north side of the chancel. The brick dates to the 14^th century and was probably removed during later work associated with changing its use into a vestry after the Reformation, or when it became the Sotherton family vault. This still holds a prominent position on the north side of the chancel. The second brick fragment, much smaller and of less interest, he dated to the 17^th century. It too possibly came from work on the gild chapel as part of the changes in its use before eventually being removed from the Sotherton family vault.

It is very satisfying to find that a humble heap of bricks can reveal such a history.

That was not the end of my very interesting visit because there were two more bricks which Peter Minter showed me. They are barely 3 centimetres thick and very well made, and he suggested that they could well be Saxon in origin. The writer of the ‘brick bible’ was unsure of the date of at least one site and decided on the 11^th century. Peter Minter believes that when the Saxons were re-using Roman bricks in their buildings they may not have had enough – and so made extra ones to complete the scheme. He showed me a photograph of a window opening in Trinity Church, Colchester, outlined in Roman style bricks which he thinks may well include others of Saxon manufacture. Another church at Little Yeldham also contains what he believes to be bricks of Saxon origin – and the academic community is disinclined to disagree. After all, Saxons made pottery so why not bricks too?