Architectural Features
the nave has C20 concrete tiles
EXTERIOR: The nave dates from the C12 and retains evidence of its original flint quoins.
The nave roof is covered with C20 concrete tiles.
The chancel, which also retains original flint quoins, dates from the C12.
It was remodelled in the C13 and its eaves line has been raised, in chalk block on the S wall and smaller flints on the N wall.
The N and S aisles date from the C14 and the former has been strengthened with three C18 brick buttresses.
The N aisle has two C14 square headed windows with cusped ogees and the S aisle also has two two-light, square headed windows, which would appear to have been much restored.
In the E wall of each aisle is a blocked early C14 window with cusped Y-tracery.
The tower dates from the C15 but was remodelled and restored in 1857 in memory of Caroline, wife of Andrew Fountaine The lower stage has C15 masonry
a C15 W door with a two-light Perpendicular window above
The much altered and rebuilt S porch, which probably dates from the C16, has a roughly chamfered S arch, a brick window opening to the E and W walls and a slated roof.
The chancel roof, which probably dates from the C20, is of three bays, with arch-braced roll-moulded principals, the braces of which are carried down to wall-posts on carved polygonal corbels.
The C14 N and S arcades of the nave are of only two bays, with double hollow-chamfer arches on a central polygonal pier and responds.
The slightly simpler detailing of the S arcade is echoed in the chancel arch, which is also C14.
A tall tower arch is C15 and has a continuous outer chamfer and a hollow chamfered inner order set on embellished polygonal corbels.
The S wall of the chancel has a C13 dropped-cill sedilia with a central armrest, and a tall restored piscine with a cusped arch head, shelf and petalled bowl
and the N wall has a C14 century tomb recess containing a stone coffin lid with a coped top and floriate cross.
The church contains a medieval octagonal font with a good C17 timber cover, a good late C17/early C18 polygonal pulpit, C18 communion rails with turned balusters, a nave floor of brick laid in a herringbone pattern with flush areas of wood block for pews, and stone slabs and encaustic tiles in the chancel and sanctuary.
It also contains many ledger slabs and wall monuments, the most notable of which are two mid C18 monuments in the S aisle: one, to the memory of Sir Andrew Fountaine (celebrated C18 art collector and companion of Alexander Pope and Jonathon Swift), in the form of a dark marble sarcophagus with a white marble bust (a copy of an original by Louis-Francois Roubilliac held in the Norwich Museum collection), an urn and inscription panel
Monument for Sir Andrew Fountaine (d 1753). This monument was designed by John Powley. The white bust of Sir Andrew, who was a famous antiquary and collector of fine art, is by Roubiliac. Narford village once consisted of more than 100 houses but by 1901 only 119 inhabitants remained and the number has more than halved since then. From the 20th century onwards St Mary's church > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1817457 was rarely used, and after some lead was stolen from the roof the building fell into disrepair. In 2000 the church, which adjoins Narford Hall and is accessible via a farm track, was restored with grants from English Heritage and the Norfolk Churches Trust. The earliest feature inside the church is a 13th century armrest in the chancel. The aisles were added during the 14th century, and construction of the clerestory followed at some later time. The church was extensively restored in Victorian times and the top of the tower largely rebuilt in 1857/58. Two panels which commemorate Caroline (d 1857), wife of Andrew Fountaine of Narford Hall > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1817416 can be seen incorporated into the traceried parapet > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1817501. The font > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1817509 is medieval and has a wooden cover in the Jacobean style. The pulpit > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1817542 has panels also carved in the Jacobean style. The pews that were removed in a late 19th century restoration were never replaced which explains the current scarcity of seating in the nave.
HISTORY: Narford is described as having once been a considerable village with its own market and fairs, but it fell into decline from the C16 onwards and is now one of the many lost villages of Norfolk.
It is thought to have originally comprised a C12 nave and slightly narrower chancel.
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION: St Mary the Virgin Church, Narford is listed at Grade I for the following principal reasons: * It retains an unusually large amount of medieval fabric. * Its interior contains some very good quality fixture and fittings. * The mid C19 remodelling of the upper stages of the tower is of high quality. * Its strong group value with the Grade I listed Narford Hall and the Grade II registered landscaped park, and its assocation with Sir Andrew Fountaine.