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I Location

II General Description

This aisleless church has a thatched nave and chancel. The windows, N porch and W tower date from the 15thc., while the carved Romanesque S doorway surviving in the flint wall of the nave, together with a deeply-splayed round-arched recess low in the N wall of the chancel, indicate that the structure of the building is substantially earlier.

III Exterior Features

1. Doorways

(i) S doorway, nave

Fairly ornate, with two orders of colonnettes, three decorated arch orders and an elaborate label moulding.

Dimensions

First order

The innermost order of supports are coursed pseudo-colonnettes, no bases apparent.

L capital: cushion, with a row of beading just below the line of the shield.

R capital: modern, cushion.

The imposts are chamfered with a flattened roll on the upright (the R is a modern replacement). The arch has a row of double-cone ornament, cinched by a series of plain clasps which grip a small roll at the edge of the order. The roll follows the line of the double-cone ornament. Judging from its worn appearance in an early 20thc. photograph (fig. 12 in Charles Keyser's chapter in H. J. Dukinfield Astley, Memorials of Old Norfolk, London 1908), the arch was subsequently re-cut.

Second order

Detached nook shafts on worn bulbous bases. The cushion capitals are modern replacements.

The arch is carved with scrolls, spiralling variously clockwise and anti-clockwise, some drilled and others plain. R of the apex there are four plain semicircircular mouldings, which may be unfinished versions of the carved scrolls.

Third order, arch

This has a thick row of centrifugal chevron lateral to the face, followed by a fine wedge, then a roll, and with cogwheel edge. The semi-circular end of each cog is defined by a groove following their shape.

The label is complex and richly decorated. It comprises a row of nailhead, scored so as to produce pyramidal saltires resembling solid dog-tooth. Following this is a staggered double row of radial billet, the semicircular faces emphasised by a groove.

VII History

Thurlton was in the King's Hundred of Clavering, once held by Archbishop Stigand (deposed 1070) but, at the time of the Domesday survey, by William de Noyers. A church is mentioned in the Survey in Oder's land at Thurlton. Both Roger Bigod and Ralph of Beaufour had holdings in Thurlton at Domesday.

VIII Comments/Opinions

Some of the features of the S doorway, such as the double-cone, radial billet and pseudo-colonnettes, identify it as the product of a team of sculptors who used a distinctive set of motifs. This team worked on a number of church doorways grouped in a triangular wedge of land formed by the converging arms of the rivers Yare and Waveney.

IX Bibliography