Monday saw us heading out of London for the next stage in our journey: Norfolk. We left the flat and walked to the Bank Station, then tubed to Liverpool Street Station, where we lugged bags up and down stairs to reach the BritRail station. We had time before our train to pick up yogurt, pastries and a loaf of lovely bread at Gail’s Bakery, then boarded the (nearly empty) train for the just under 2 hour journey to Norwich.
Norwich station was constructed in 1886, and underwent a modern facelift/retrofit in the late 1990’s. I think the station today reflects a thoughtful blend of old and new.
Matt had reserved a rental car for our five days in Norfolk, with the pick-up location advertised as a “ten minute walk” from the station. Well, kind of. We followed the pedestrian path out of the station (seems sensible, no?), which turned out to the long way round. We finally found the pickup place, a Holiday Inn, after ~ 25 minutes of false starts and grumbling. (One of us maintains his hate-hate relationship with Google maps.)
When we finally found the hotel, the very young thing at reception handed over the keys while stressing that keys were the only thing they could provide: no questions, no troubleshooting, cars not their bailiwick. The car turned out to be a Chinese BYD which we had no idea how to operate – couldn’t even tell whether it was gas or electric at first. (Hybrid.) Why don’t rental car companies provide cheat sheets? The control panels are different on every model and the electronics are rarely intuitive. But I digress…once we finally figured things out and got on the road, the BYD was a great ride. It had the best – and biggest – navigation system ever, which very accurately routed us to our friends’ tiny village of Swanton Abbott.
We met Sue and Philip years ago when they operated a B&B in another Norfolk village, where we quickly bonded over animals. They had quite the menagerie then, including the most gorgeous chickens, a platoon of cats and. a big friendly dog They still have plenty of furry bodies today, including their new puppy, Milo, who was 8 months old, weighing in at 88 pounds when we met him.
We spent the afternoon chatting about this and that (chiacchiere in Italian, isn’t that a lovely verb?) Eventually tiring of lamenting over Trumpism and the failings of the dysfunctional British government, Phil and Milo took us outside for a ramble across the fields to the local church and back.
St. Michael’s, Swanton Abbott, is a delightful medieval building. The Diocese of Norwich notes “Many of the churches dedicated to St Michael are on hills. This church is on the top of a hill, but that’s a Norfolk hill so it’s not very steep…”
The tower dates to the 14th century, the nave and chancel to the 15th and there is an earlier Anglo-Saxon church lingering in the foundations. The walls are constructed of “flushwork,” a medieval architectural style found in many medieval churches and guildhalls in Norfolk. Flint (abundant here) is split (knapped) to expose the dark inner surface, then set beside light stones to create decorative patterns like these.
There’s a lovely churchyard with old and new gravestones.
The church’s interior was re-worked in the 19th-20th centuries, but some interesting medieval bits remain.
The chancel aisle contains a “brass” for Stephen Multon, a church rector who died in 1477. He is shown wearing the high church finery of that age.
Multon also donated the church’s rood screen, which was “restored” (and messed up) in the 20th century by an aged successor to the post.
We pondered the meaning of this plaque (below), written in a mix of Greek, Latin and English, which we were able to translate on-line on our return home. The plaque is dedicated to memory of Elizabeth Knolles, who died in 1641 aged 60. The Greek inscription (top and bottom) says “the cross is the life,” reflecting the central principle of Christian redemption and the hope of eternal life. The Latin inscription at the bottom reads “”Farewell my dear, farewell; I have wept at your funeral; your heavenly life consoles me.”
Leaving the church, we made our way back to the house where a dinner of Sue’s delicious lasagna awaited us.
Fun day!