I love Victorian churches, and I was really looking forward to seeing All Saints. It isn't really Victorian. It is one of the many medieval round-towered churches in the Wensum valley to the west of Norwich. But it was totalled in the 1870s at the expense of the Rector, Barnham Johnson. He replaced the chancel, completely refitted the shell of the nave, and finished off the round tower with a brick course and conical top. The tower is curiously short on openings, making an age difficult to guess, but Detective Pevsner noted the thickness of the nave west wall, suggesting that the church was here before the tower, as is common in this part of Norfolk. This would place the tower no earlier than the late Norman period. I looked forward to testing this theory for myself. Everyone speaks highly of Welborne. Even dear old Munro Cautley, who ordinarily had any Victorian architect who strayed onto his land dragged behind the stable block and shot. He describes it as beautifully restored. The funny thing is, it isn't clear who the architect here actually was. Could it have been Barnham Johnson himself?

The first indication that things were not going to go the way we'd planned was the notice on the main door. WARNING it said. PROTECTED BY LACLEIGH SECURITY SYSTEM. There was no welcome to our church, nothing to say the key is at the cottage across the road, or to remind us to enter and kneel to say a prayer for those who worship within these hallowed walls. Just a warning.

It didn't get any better. We did the usual circumnavigation of the church, mostly to see it all, but also partly to check if there was another way in. But every doorway had the same notice, a warning to us all. Keep out, and go away.

Before we did, there was a smattering of stained glass fragments in the porch window that required examination. They came from the same collection as the great sequence of Saints and Martyrdoms in the church at North Tuddenham. They were found in a builder's yard in Dereham in the 1880s, and bought for fifty shillings. The bulk was installed at North Tuddenham, but the Rector gave the odd bits left over to Welborne. Some of the fragments of inscription here match bits of inscription in the other church, and are part of a massive sequence of the life and martyrdom of St Margaret. No one knows where it all came from originally. It must have been a big church.

But that was as much as we were going to see. To be fair to All Saints, it isn't clear if the church is still in use, and for all I know it might now be some sort of glorified lumber room for the adjacent village hall. Hence the WARNING signs. But it certainly isn't doing much of a job as the House of God, welcoming pilgrims and strangers. What a cold, unfriendly place!

Simon Knott, February 2006

Postscript: Welbourne church is still in use, and Peter Stephens came back a few months later on a Historic Churches Bike Ride day and took the photographs you can see below. Shortly after this entry first appeared, I received an e-mail from Joyce Turner, churchwarden of All Saints. Helpfully pointing out that I had originally spelt the name of the village wrong (oops!) she went on to say: "I also feel that as some churches are visited on a Sunday you are bound to get a different response than those you attend on a weekday. The sign on which you comment on the church door does not actually say "keep out" and it is surely right to inform people that an alarm is fitted to the building.
I agree with you that it is better if a church is not locked, but in today's climate and also our financial situation we cannot afford to keep having items removed by intruders. Also if an alarm is fitted the insurance premiums are less. You also say that there is no reminder to pray. If you had just glanced to the right of the door you would have seen the following " This house of God has been used for prayer for many centuries. Join your prayers to those of past ages and your hopes for those which are yet to come. Give thanks to Him for the men who built and adorned this church. Pray that we may so live after their good example, that when this life is ended we may be partakers with them of life everlasting. Pray that all who worship in this church may remain his faithful servants to their lives end". I would like to say that we should not have to be reminded to pray, we can pray whenever and wherever we like.
I would also wish to point out that the Church is the people, not the building.
May I invite you to come along to any of our services and you will be assured of a very warm welcome and you will also be invited to join us for coffee.
Thankyou for your time and please do think about the people you are offending with your unnecessary comments on their place of worship."