St Mary the Less, Norwich

St Mary the Less, Norwich
St Mary the Less, Norwich
52°37′49.8″N1°17′54.24″E / 52.630500°N 1.2984000°E / 52.630500; 1.2984000
Location	Queen Street, Norwich, Norfolk
Country	England
Denomination	Church of England
History
Status	Redundant
Dedication	St Mary
Architecture
Heritage designation	Grade I listed

St Mary the Less, Norwich is a Grade I listed redundant church located on Queen Street, Norwich. ^[1]

The church consists of a west tower, three-bay nave, chancel and south porch with parvise. It is built of flint with stone and brick dressings and dates from the 13th century. The church has been built up against on three sides so is not prominent in the street.

History

The church is medieval but became redundant in 1544 when its parish was absorbed by St George's, Tombland.

When, in the mid-1560s, 24 Dutch masters representing the first of the Elizabethan Strangers in Norwich, the church of St Mary the Less was assigned to them as their bay hall. ^[2] The building was used as a wool hall where Dutch merchants sold cloth. In 1637 it was converted into a church for these Walloon and French Protestants, l’Église Protestante Française de Norwich. ^[3] Monument inscriptions to the Martineaus and Colombines, both Walloon Stranger families, still exist in the church. ^[4] Pastors at this time included John Bruckner and Joseph Nicol Scott. ^[3]

This use continued until 1832 when it was sold to the Swedenborgians. In 1869 it became a Catholic Apostolic Church. After closure in 1959 it became a furniture warehouse for Robertson & Coleman until 1985. ^[3] In 1989 it was sold into private ownership by the Norwich French Church Charity.

It is on the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register, which says it is "currently used as an historical studies centre but not easily accessible. The building is thought to be in need of repair, especially the roof". ^[5]

References

1. The Buildings of England. Norfolk. Nikolaus Pevsner. p.248. First Edition. 1962. Penguin Books Limited
2. Joby, Christopher (27 January 2015). The Dutch language in Britain (1550-1702): a social history of the use of Dutch in early modern Britain. Brill's Studies in Language, Cognition and Culture. Leiden: Brill Publishing. p. 134. ISBN   978-90-04-28518-7.
3. Smith, Sophie (21 June 2018). "Hidden church nobody notices falling into disrepair". Norwich Evening News. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
4. Brandis, Veronika (2025). Funerary Inscriptions in Early Modern Europe: Shaping Identities to Remember. Intersections Series. Jan L. de Jong, Robert Seidel (1st ed.). Boston: Brill Publishing. pp. 217–8. ISBN   978-90-04-71170-9.
5. "St Mary the Less, Queen Street, Norwich - Norwich | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 11 July 2021.

External links

• Norwich French Church Charity