St. Gregory
Barnham
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A little of our history
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Ampton
Ingham
Ixworth
Barnham
Ixworth Thorpe
History
the 13th century, consisted of a nave and chancel; it now has an unbuttressed west tower, added in the 14th century, a south porch, north transept, north aisle, a small vestry and a storage room. The simple font (the ornate cover is late 19th century) the chancel arch, the fine
piscina and the tracery of the east window are the only medieval features to survive inside.
Most of the fittings and additions to the structure bear the hallmarks of the 19th century, and two periods of restoration are recorded: one in about 1840, which included the building of the north transept, an unusual addition for a village church, the other in 1863 at the instigation and expense of the fifth Duke ofGrafton, who did not live to see its completion. The main
focus of this was the addition of the north aisle. In both periods other repair work was done, but it is not always possible to decide in which. It is not often that a small church has two major phases of activity within such a short time. From one or other restoration can be dated the two-light Y-tracery windows now throughout the building, the furnishings, and the organ, said to have come from Euston Hall. The stained glass in the east and one south window dates from 1913 and is in memory of a former rector.
Other alterations are less easy to date. At some point the nave walls were heightened and the roof replaced; the change in the flintwork just below the eaves can be seen quite clearly from the outside of the church. The pitch
of the roof was not altered and its steepness suggests that it may have been originally thatched. And the porch, which from will evidence may date, at least in part, from the 16th century, might have Tudor brickwork and crenellations beneath its ugly render. So, even a simple-seeming church like Barnham can have its mysteries.
Sylvia Colman
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