Churchcrawlers in Norfolk and Suffolk need no introduction to 'Sam' Mortlock. His six volume gazetteer, A Popular Guide to the churches of Norfolk and Suffolk (those for Norfolk co-written with Charles Roberts) has long been an essential item in anyone's rucksack. The Norfolk volumes were originally published in the 1980s, and quickly established themselves as the best guides to the county's churches. Even after the Pevsner Buildings of England volumes for Norfolk were revised and republished in the late 1990s, it was always Mortlock that I reached for first when setting off to catch the early train up to Norwich.

There were several reasons for this. Mortlock's review of a church is complete, but not formulaic; he finds room for insignificant details which he happens to find interesting, alongside the usual list of architectural features. Coming to a known church with Mortlock is like seeing it for the first time. Secondly, the articles are largely accurate; you know you are in the presence of a man who has walked these ways before you. Most important of all, Mortlock has what I think of as an Anglican sensibility. He knows the true emotional value of the buildings he describes.

Now, the original three volumes have been updated and republished in a single, handy volume, available from Amazon. Nothing has been lost. About thirty churches not included in the first editions, because they were post-medieval, now have a place. There are more photographs than before. When Mortlock and Roberts first set out to explore the churches of Norfolk, they began with a book which matched the area of the first Pevsner volume. However, they then seemed to warm to their task, because the area of the other Pevsner volume called for two books from Mortlock and Roberts. Suffolk, covered by a single volume of Pevsner, required three Mortlock books, and the six books became more and more detailed as they worked their anti-clockwise passage around East Anglia.

The original Mortlocks, published by Acorn Press, were big, chunky paperbacks. Expeditions into central Norfolk required the carriage of all three Mortlock volumes, not always an easy task when I was cycling. The format of the new book is larger, but lighter, obviously intended to be at once detailed yet portable.

A typical Mortlock description of a church begins with the exterior, describing the historical development and any idiosyncratic features. Once inside, his eye ranges around the fixtures and fittings, their age, provenance and significance. He has a particular knowledge of post-Reformation memorials and 19th century glass, making him a useful counterpoint to Cautley, who lavished attention on the medieval features of a church, but ignored the rest.

Unlike many other church writers, Mortlock wears his heart on his sleeve. You can tell when he really enjoys a visit, and when he really likes a church. Many Mortlock entries include his musings on inscriptions, and descriptions of significant people in the past life of the parish. The book is a pleasure to read without ever visiting a church.

If there are any criticisms of the new edition, they are largely in terms of opportunities that seem to have been lost. For a start, there is a lack of balance across the county. I had very much hoped that the slighter entries from the very first Norfolk volume might have been beefed up a bit. This doesn't appear to have happened. Ranworth, a church I consider to be in the first rank in Norfolk, especially in terms of its interior, gets a smaller entry than the insignificant 1930s rebuilding of St George at Hindolveston. Salle, for many people the finest church in Norfolk, gets no larger an entry than the relatively unimportant Gorleston.

Secondly, there has been a considerable amount of research into Norfolk churches in the years since the original volumes were produced, most significantly Ann Eljenholm Nichols magisterial subject list of Norfolk churches, The Early Art of Norfolk. For example, the figures at Griston that Mortlock describes as what could be a set of the four Latin Doctors are now documented as being Old Testament Prophets. This is a small point, but this and other uncertainties could easily have been put right with a bit of cross-checking. Similarly, events in Norfolk churches since the 1980s are not always reflected; the panel of St Eligius stolen from Hempstead church in February 1982 is still in situ in the new volume. The stunning 14th century image of St Christopher installed above the altar at Halvergate in recent years is not included. The opportunity to take out the howler in the first edition, an account of the iconoclast William Dowsing's visit to Gorleston (a well-known early 19th century fake, Dowsing never visited Gorleston) has not been taken. One can't help thinking that the proofs of the new edition might usefully have been passed under the eyes of other people who know the churches of Norfolk well.

The introduction of post-medieval churches is a bonus, but tends to skew the emphasis of the book slightly. Mortlock sticks with what he knows, the Church of England. And this is a pity, for there are many post-medieval churches of other denominations in Norfolk which might usefully have been included as being of great interest. Not the least of these is the vast Catholic church of St John the Baptist in Norwich, for many people the finest Gothic Revival church in England.

But in any book of more than six hundred entries, there are bound to be quibbles. I fell on this book with delight, and it became my constant companion for a week as I worked my way through it. I am very pleased with the new Mortlock edition, it is essential reading, and a good companion. I have added it enthusiastically to my travelling armoury.

Simon Knott, February 2008

See the Guide to the Churches of Norfolk on amazon.co.uk

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