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NOTICES OF THE

Church of St. Nicholas, Great Yarmouth.

COMMUNICATED BY

A. W. MORANT, ESQ., F.S.A., F.G.S., &c.

HAVING, formerly, been for some years local architect to the Church Restoration Committee at Great Yarmouth, and taking great interest in the work, not only professionally, but also as an antiquary, it affords me much pleasure to place before the Norfolk and Norwich Archæological Society a short paper on the architectural history and principal points of interest of the noble Church of St. Nicholas, which, until 1715, was the only place of worship of the Established Church in that town. Of most unusual dimensions, it has lately been proved to cover more ground than any other parish church in England, measuring in length 230 feet by 108 feet in breadth; its internal superficial area being 23,085 feet, whilst the areas of its rivals are as follows:

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At the re-opening services, about three years since, 4,000 persons were accommodated on the floor. On looking at the ground plan of the church, and the elevation of the west front, which accompany this paper, one cannot fail to observe the great width of the aisles and the comparative narrowness of the nave: features so entirely at variance with the usual arrangement. But the cause of this is obvious: the original small nave and tower were preserved, and the increased accommodation required was obtained by greatly widening the aisles. The same peculiarity exists at the neighbouring church of St. Andrew, at Gorleston.

Founded and built by Herbert, Bishop of Norwich (1096 —1119,1) in connection with the adjacent Benedictine priory (a cell to that of Norwich,) and of which only the refectory now remains, it probably at first consisted of nave, central tower, transepts, and chancel; and the Rev. John Gunn believes that, when excavations were made during the alterations in 1847, he saw indications of two apsidal chapels opening from the eastern sides of the transepts as at Norwich Cathedral and Thetford Priory-buildings of Bishop Herbert's period. This church is said to have been completed in 1119; but all that can be seen of this date is a portion of the central tower below the bell chamber, the lower part of the tower having been cut away and cased to form the piers of the tower arches in the Decorated period.

The Norman portion of the tower is very rudely constructed of beach boulders, pieces of stone, and what look like large sun-dried bricks, but which are considered by the officers of the School of Mines, London, to be pieces of tufa or trass of the Rhine, from the vicinity of Andernach, probably brought to Yarmouth as ballast; and there are small quoins of freestone. In the stages above the level of the apex of the original roof of the nave, as will be seen on reference to 1 See Appendix I.

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ELEVATION.-WEST FRONT, ST. NICHOLAS' CHURCH, GREAT YARMOUTH.

the western elevation of the church which accompanies this paper, is an arcade of eight arches, with shafts, caps, and bases, the two arches in the centre surmounted by another arch with billet moulding; the space between this arch and the two beneath being partly filled with herringbone-work. In the next stage, on each face, are two circularheaded windows perfectly plain, and above these are eleven small arched recesses, ranged in a row, cut out of the material supposed to be tufa; each measures nineteen inches in height, ten inches in width, and has a rabbet one inch in width and depth round the edge of the opening; they do not appear to have pierced the whole thickness of the wall, and I am not able to offer any conjecture as to the use for which they were intended.

About 1190 (transition into Early English) the present arcade was formed in the old walls of the nave, which was also lengthened one bay, and lean-to aisles about twelve feet in width added, the nave being twenty-three feet wide. The string-courses, which supported the plates of the roof, and the corbelled eaves-courses still remain to prove this assertion. The west gable end of the nave, the two arches of the chancel arcade adjoining the tower, and the large arch between the south transept and south chancel aisle are of this date. The upper stage of the tower was now added, and it is worthy of notice that the south and west sides were faced with ashlar, being seen from the town; and the other two sides, not being so seen, were only built of rubble. There are three lofty windows in each side, with shafts at external angles of the jambs. The angles of the tower also have shafts.

Early in the thirteenth century still further room was required, and the church was again considerably enlarged in the complete Early English style. The nave aisles were pulled down and rebuilt, and, instead of lean-to roofs, pitch roofs of most unusual span, viz., 39 feet wide, were erected. The west front of the aisles is of this date, and, according

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