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St
Lawrence, Brundall
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The
Broads begin at Brundall. This is furthest outer
Norwich; Brundall, and particularly adjoining
Brundall Gardens, is Norwich's Metroland, with
two railway stations, bowling greens, boating on
the river and 1920s mock-tudor in abundance. How
Betjeman must have loved it. And I liked it a lot
too; I had been cycling in nearby parishes which
had, for Norfolk, a somewhat unenlightened
attitude to church-opening, so it was a pleasure
to come here and be able to step inside this
lovely space. But first, I had to find
it. St Lawrence is a long, towerless church set
back from the road and hidden in a garden-like
churchyard with its rectory and parish hall. You
step through a pretty thatched lychgate which
serves as the parish memorial to the local boys
lost in the mud and blood of Flanders and France.
The path takes you to the east of the church and
onto the south side, where the neat graveyard
slopes down towards the river. Many churchyards
have benches, but here was the first time today I
was unable to resist sitting down and soaking up
the sunshine and the birdsong. It was idyllic.
St
Lawrence is a curious building. There probably
never was a tower. A tall bellcote sits about a
third of the way down the nave, level with the
porch. As Pevsner notes, it appears to be
medieval. The north aisle you see as you walk
from the lych gate dates from as recently as
1900, but everything you see from the south side
is apparently 13th Century, except that, in
reality, the bellcote sits above the medieval
western gable; early in the 20th Century, the
nave was extended westwards. if you stand to the
south you can see that the building must get
darker inside the further east you go.
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You step
into what is essentially an Edwardian era interior, that
period of High Church triumphalism and gravitas between
the end of the 19th Century and the First World War. It
is the Church of England at its dramatic peak. But there
are plenty of medieval survivals here, including East
Anglia's only lead font. it is contemporary with the
church building, its design depicting a repeated motif of
the crucifixion and fleur-de-lys. It seems curiously
primitive compared with lead fonts found elsewhere in the
country, for example Low Halstow and Brookland in Kent.
  
There is
good glass by Clayton and Bell, less good by Kempe &
Co, but they both let coloured light fall across the dark
wood furnishings, which is very atmospheric. In the north
aisle, and probably installed here as part of the
restoration in 1900, there is a fine roundel of
continental glass depicting the church's patron Saint
with his grid iron. It is probably 18th Century, I should
think, unless it is one of those clever copies by the
King workshop. Certainly of the 20th Century is the set
of royal arms above the south door, because it is for
Elizabeth II, one of several sets in East Anglia but
probably the only one which appears to be painted on a
fibre glass panel.
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view eastwards is to the early 20th Century
roodscreen and the darkness of the chancel
beyond. You can see that St Lawrence was restored
for shadowy, incense-led worship. While I was in
the church an old gentleman came in to 'prepare
the altar' for the following day's Communion,
which I found pleasing and perhaps even
reassuring. As I chatted to him, I looked at the
memorials either side of the sanctuary. They are
both fascinating. The one on the south side is to
Charles Leath, Midshipman of the British
Navy... who died at sea in 1804. The
memorial features his sword and sextant in relief
at the top. Even more striking is the
relief on the memorial on the opposite wall. It
dates from half a century later, and remembers
Robert Cubitt and his wife Henrietta. The relief
depicts a schooner with its sails furled, basking
on a choppy sea. Under the relief are the words Such
is Life.
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