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Introduction - St Mary's Church

Forncett-St-Mary-2008Jun27 St. Mary's church is mentioned in the Domesday Book, and was built on the original site of Forncett. The Nave is probably 13th or 14th Century, the Tower 15th Century, and the Nave originally had a thatched roof. The church was restored by Revd J.Cooper 1869 -1870. In 1980 a decision was taken to close St. Mary's, due to falling numbers in the congregation, and the furnishings were stripped out. There were many schemes for the church over the next few years, but it was eventually allowed to become overgrown and derelict.

In 2007, new neighbours moved into Church Cottage, and began clearing the graveyard, and cleaning the church. A successful Friends group was formed, and fund-raising began to restore electricity, replace rotten floors and side panelling, and some of the stained glass windows, and a local retired carpenter made an altar table and rails.

In June 2012 the church was taken out of redundancy, with the full support of the PCC, the Diocese and the Bishops of Norwich and Thetford, and became a Chapel of Ease to St. Peter's Church. A successful bid for English Heritage Grant funding was made, and in Spring 2014 the remaining restoration work will be carried out.The church is ideal for holding community events as well as Services, and is open every day 10a.m. - 4p.m. for visitors.

St Mary an Eco Church

Written by Administrator.

St Mary’s has registered for a project called ‘Eco Church’ – its purpose is to help as many churches as possible celebrate what they are doing to care for the environment. At the moment we have a Bronze Award for Buildings, a Silver Award for Land, Silver for Community and Global engagement, and Silver for Lifestyle. The church has met some of the criteria due to factors such as leaving a large section of the churchyard for ‘wild’ growing, and having trees planted. There is also a bio toilet, and we are in the process of putting up bat and bird nesting boxes. As we continue to be able to give positive answers to more of the questions we hope to increase those awards to the next level.

Copies of the church guide/history book written by Roy Tricker are available for £3 – contact

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Written by Graham Prior.

Director and Producer Paul Blake and the cast of 'Ensemble' performed 'It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas' to three packed audiences in St Mary's Church November 28th, 29th and 30th.

Click on pic for more - photos by Richard Ball

A huge thank you to everyone involved the show: Paul Blake for producing and directing, the 'tech team' for lights, sound,and putting the staging up, the wardrobe ladies for making sure the costume changes went seamlessly, and May for front of house duties. We like to think of St Mary's church as the spiritual home of Ensemble, and we hope they will be back for more shows. Finally, thank you to the audience, and a happy Christmas to all.

St Mary's Tower - work suspended over winter

Written by Graham Prior.

During the summer the porch and tower of St Mary's Church have been restored and stabilised using traditional materials and methods - hot lime for the mortar and lead for the tower roof. The only variation has been the use of stainless steel for the porch roof, done for security reasons.

On 30th October, also in line with traditional medieval practice, work was officially suspended for the winter months - lime mortar, for instance, takes a good number of days to set hard and would be damaged if frost occurred during that process.

Photographs by Gethin Harvey (at that time of Nicholas Warns Architects)
(click pic for slide show)

St Mary Tower Restoration - Progress Report

Written by Graham and May Prior.

In November 2018, St Mary's was awarded a National Lottery Heritage Fund Grant - Saving Our Saxon Tower. This in addition to several smaller grants has allowed restoration work to commence.

Since work began in March the asphalt roof coverings on the Porch and Tower have been taken up, the roof structures repaired and the coverings replaced with stainless steel on the Porch, and lead on the Tower. The associated parapets and abutments have been overhauled and high level masonry repairs are underway. Work is progressing from the top of the tower down, and should be completed by the end of September 2019.

Photos by Gethin Harvey of Nicholas Warns Architects Ltd.
please click on pic for slide show

The Holocaust Memorial Library is complete as a reference facility, and we hope to participate in Memorial Day in 2020.

A church booklet has been written and is awaiting final proof reading and publication.

New display and interpretation boards will be purchased when the main building work has been completed. It has been difficult to allow public access for much of this year because of the building work, but we plan to participate in Heritage Open Days in the future.

We continue to work on a regular basis with the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, and encourage use by local ramblers. This year St Mary's will again be open for the Norfolk Churches Trust Cycle Ride.

Regular Messy Church Sessions have been started for young people and their families.

Ensemble, a drama group, have a 3 night Christmas Show on 28th, 29th and 30th November this year in the church - 'It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.'
For any enquiries contact

photos of the restoration work on St Mary's, taken by Gethin Harvey, from Nicholas Warns Architects Ltd.

Forncett Art Group Exhibition

Written by Ally Rae.

Alongside Forncett Village Fete looking wonderful on Jubilee Green and the Village Hall on 23 June, Forncett Art Group staged its second exhibition in St Mary’s Church on the same day. The two complimented each other perfectly. The bright unbroken sunshine, marquees and bustle at Jubilee Green and the beautiful cool, calmness of the atmospheric church.

A bowl of beautiful scents in the porch - photo: Ally Rae

( Photos by Ally Rae and David Kirk
Click pic for slideshow )

Art-work of all sorts filled every corner, showcasing the skills, creativity and enthusiasm of the Group and its supporters. Oil paintings, watercolours, drawings, etchings, linocuts, textile art, mosaics, stained glass, encaustic pictures (drawn with hot wax), quilts – the variety was glorious. What is also lovely about the Art Group is its emphasis on being creative together whatever your skill level and there must have been work from around 20 people. The church was also beautiful with flowers whose scent greeted visitors as they entered. A constant flow of people enjoyed the displays and took advantage of the chance to buy some of the work.

Very big ‘thank you’s’ are due to Gill Starkie who masterminded the exhibition (similar to herding cats) and artfully arranged the flowers, to John Metcalf for supplying many of the wonderful blooms, to May and Graham Prior for making the church available and of course to everyone who exhibited work. The Art Group will also be staging a smaller exhibition at Et Edmunds Fete on 28 July – please contact Gill Starkie if you would like to be involved. The Art Group welcomes everyone with an interest in art or creativity of any sort – we will be meeting intermittently over the summer for sketching in the garden and visits – again contact Gill to find out what’s on.

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