Twyford, Norfolk

The last leg, and by some margin the farthest from home, of our journey saw us in North Norfolk, staying just outside Fakenham and taking in all the traditional seaside pleasantries (crazy golf and crab sandwiches) alongside a trip down the Norfolk road to find our final Twyford trapped between the salubrious sounding locations of Bintree and Foulsham. I'm sure they are a lot nicer than they sound...

Twyford in the bottom-right

The church is located right by the roadside with a convenient layby to park in. And here it is:

The church as seen from the gate

A slightly less austere view from the south
 side of the churchyard

As you can probably tell from the subsided bell-tower, St Nicholas' church is not really in active use any more. I expected on the outset that we'd find churches that had been left to moulder, but it was still depressing to see the church noticeboard propped up on a gravestone and read - on the comprehensive North Norfolk churches website - that the place was unlikely to get any more money for repairs. It's hardly surprising: there are maybe only a dozen inhabited buildings anywhere near it and probably very few church-goers. Even the most charitable of community projects would struggle to get a foothold here. What a shame.

I don't have small hands; this is a big
key. 16th Century vintage,
 so I'm led to understand.

The front doors were unsurprisingly locked, but the names of half-a-dozen keyholders were posted in the porch. A few phone-calls and a hasty trudge up to a neighbouring farm later, and we were in possession of some church keys! I don't know about you, but I find something remarkably reassuring about a set of REALLY large keys...

The inside felt a damp, dusty and austerely whitewashed, but there were still a few bright spots for those who were rapidly gaining an appreciation of church history. An ornate rood screen, some rather perfunctory Victorian stained glass, and the almost inevitable Norman font - a big meaty chunk of local limestone.

So much history to be told

The vicar's view

The chancel has tasteful ornamentation,
 alabaster carvings, and decorative flooring

Fonts. Built to last

The Norman font wasn't our favourite 900+ year-old thing, though. That prize went to a little lancet window in the west wall which is authentically 11th Century.

The Norman window

In a rather unassuming way, this
might be one of the most impressive
things we've seen on this trip.

In the general debris of hymn books and various pamphlets in the back of the church, we found a very useful guide to the graveyard, which led us easily to the oldest grave. In fact, it was the erstwhile temporary leaning post for the noticeboard.

Robert Framingham, d1685.
Not a fish-lover as best we can tell

This is exactly the sort of thing we would have
found really useful in Hampshire

Twyford Hall, farm
and houses

The local history part of our journey was pretty elementary, really. The whole area - not surprisingly for Norfolk - is farmland, and until pretty recently would have been under the ownership of Twyford Hall, the local manor house. No doubt the church would have been part of the manor estate for the use of farm employees on a Sunday. Now, of course, the Hall is in private hands, and the church is part of a Church Of England trust.

After a quick snapshot of the hall from round the back of the church, we had a quick wander down to the village, if 'village' isn't too grandiose a word. Really, it's just a bunch of old farm buildings that have been tastefully converted for semi-retirees. It's all very pleasant, but a long way from anywhere: I guess that's the appeal for many.

Ford-spotting was relatively easy today. The brook that runs dead across the middle of the map is nameless, but pretty sizeable nevertheless and drains directly into the River Wensum, which winds all across the county.

The old road runs parallel to the main road for a few hundred metres, and directly opposite the church, a little buried under the modernisation and general debris, was a crossing that looked a likely candidate...

Try to ignore the road-furniture debris and
imagine a herd of cattle crossing here

A sneaky peek at Twyford Hall

Twyford Farmhouse

One of several ex-farm buildings
converted into comfortable homes that
constituted the entire village

Finding the second ford was only a little more challenging. There was nothing apparent in the village, and I set my sights on the footpath south of the church and the fact that it crossed two waterways within the first hundred metres. As it turned out, the landscape was a little more thistle-filled than Becky cared to cross with bare legs, but she was happy enough to take a photo of me setting off!

In search of the second ford...

After a hairy moment where I nearly fell into the little round pond, I clambered through a bit of wire fencing and found this rather magnificent view: a ford clearly in active use, judging by the herd of cows that mooed at me from the other side.

A much more picturesque ford than the first one

In all truth, there wasn't much else to see in Twyford, so we headed off for the rather delightful Fakenham market, where Becky bought some local Herdwick wool and took it home to make a Herdwick sheep!

What else can you do with it but
make a Herdwick sheep!?

Herdwick wool, courtesy of Venetia

And that concludes our Twyford journey.

Or does it? Find out our thoughts in the Conclusion.