CONTEXT 175 : MARCH 2023 23 EAST ANGLIA COAST of supporters, to establish the Norfolk Churches Trust in 1976. The building was eventually to become one of a group of churches leased to the trust and once referred to in some circles as ‘the diocese of Lady Harrod’. The church occupies a commanding position above a valley close to the B1149 from Norwich to Holt. In 1982, the years of abandonment, vandalism, and theft came to an end when it was taken on by the Friends of Friendless Churches, made secure and partially repaired. It passed to us in 2009. In our care, and after further repair campaigns, it has recently found a new role as home for part of the Lettering Arts Trust’s collection of carved and lettered stones.This is now a place where people can come to experience the uplifting qualities of tranquillity and beauty that epitomise the remote rural church, and gain inspiration for the commissioning of good quality memorials. This is a comparatively rare example of a sympathetic new use for a rural Norfolk church, but it is in no sense economically self-supporting and will always be dependent on charitable giving and grant aid. For most Anglican churches formal redundancy, which can be legally instigated only by individual congregations, raises more questions than answers. Responsibility for maintenance and repair are transferred to the diocesan board of finance for an indeterminate period if a suitable new owner has not already been secured. Scale, historic significance, complexity, isolation and repair liabilities make a challenging commercial proposition for potential buyers. Even without any of the legal processes, informal abandonment followed by decay, of the kind exemplified by the tribulations of St Peter’s, Corpusty – a church that was not formally made redundant until 1975 after years of disuse and vandalism – remain an ever-present threat. We are quite unusual among English county trusts in caring directly for our leased churches, 12 from the Diocese of Norwich and one from the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia. In the early days an understanding that the predecessors of Historic England would fund the high-level repairs was critical to the practicality of their acquisition and care. It is because this epoch of active state support ended in the early years of this century that we can not comfortably contemplate further acquisitions, as these would now impact our grants to churches in use. The leased churches have, it is true, continued to receive grant aid from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the St Peter’s, Corpusty, is the subject of a richly illustrated publication that chronicles the decline and remarkable recovery of the building. Do the Stones Speak by Roger Last and Merlin Waterson is available from https:// norfolkchurchestrust. org.uk. Parapet repairs underway at Our Lady of Consolation and St Stephen at Lynford Scaffolding on the west gable and bellcote at Our Lady of Consolation and St Stephen St Peter’s, Corpusty
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