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| Saint Botolph - Shingham The Church stands in admirable isolation © Godric Godricson |
I love "Planet Norfolk" partly because it has so many interesting places and it throws up surprises in abundance.
I like to be surprised by Churches and graveyards in out of the way places and I found Shingham in this manner.
I'd never heard of the place before although the Church is a little jewel. The graveyard is large and has the air of a site that has at some point been cleared of many memorials and left as a large parkland. Saint Botolph sits in this park and dominates the consecrated site like a ship in a dry dock. At some point it feels as though the Church will slip its moorings and sail away.
This Grade 1 listed Church is Norman and has a beautiful door although (after peeking into the wndows) the interior has gone to rack and ruin under the disinterested watch of the Anglican Authorities who argue in an animated way about the sex lives of consenting adults whilst national treasures slip away into the ground. The Church needs to be protected from the 'care' of the Authorities before the building finally crumbles away like others in this area. If this is the care that a grade 1 listed building receives then I query the fate of the others.
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| Saint Botolph - Shingham The Norman arch |
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| Saint Botolph - Shingham Detail from the Norman arch © Godric Godricson |
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Saint Botolph - Shingham
Detail from the Norman arch
© Godric Godricson
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