St Peter Mancroft is a parish church in the Church of England in the centre of Norwich, Norfolk. After the two cathedrals, it is the largest church in Norwich. It was originally established by Ralph de Gael, Earl of East Anglia, between 1066 and 1075.[1] It was later rebuilt, between 1430 and 1455.[2] It stands on a slightly elevated position, next to the market place.[3]
The present building was begun in 1430 on the site of an existing church, and consecrated in 1455. It is 180 feet long and ashlar faced with a tower at the west end.[3] It is a Grade I listed building.[4]
It has a Norman foundation dating from 1075, a 1463 font, a 1573 Flemish tapestry and medieval glass. The North transept displays a collection of church silver, including the Gleane and Thistle cups, as well as memorabilia associated with the physician-philosopher Thomas Browne, author of Religio Medici (1642).[5]George Edmund Street published an exhaustive study of the church in 1879,[6] and in 1896 a small lead-covered spire with flying buttresses was added, designed by his son A. E. Street.[3]
In 1850 two L-shaped trenches accommodating a number of acoustic jars were discovered beneath the wooden floor on which the choir stalls had previously stood. The earthenware jars were built into its walls at intervals of about three feet, with the mouths facing into the trenches.[7]
^ abcWilson, Bill; Nikolaus, Pevsner (2007). Norfolk 1: Norwich and North- East. Buildings of England (second ed.). Yale University Press. pp. 247–50. ISBN978-0-300-09607-1.
