Burnham Deepdale is located on the A149 coast road, situated between Hunstanton and Blakeney on the NE Norfolk coast. Like many Norfolk churches, the church of St Mary has a round tower at its W end, together with a nave, chancel and S porch. The N arcade (three bays, with octagonal piers and double-hollow chamfered arches) are from the 14thc. The stand-out Romanesque feature is the font; the N nave doorway is also Romanesque.

Burnham Deepdale is listed in Domesday under the land of Roger Bigot, where he held one free man, at 1/2c. of land. He also held 3 smallholders and 1 plough. It was first valued at 20s, when Bigot acquired the land, and at 10s in 1086. No church is recorded in Domesday.

The tower, parts of the N arcade and the font date from the late 11thc. The church underwent additions and rebuilding in the medieval period, including the addition of a 15thc chancel arch. It fell into disrepair by the early 18thc, and much of the building's current appearance dates from an 1870 restoration by Frederick Preedy, including the nave and chancel fenestration.

One feature that the church shares with many other Norfolk churches is its being faced in flint - a common technique to make up for the lack of easily available freestone locally.

Font

Of the font, while the main relief design is clear, much of the finer surface detail of the sculpture has been lost. The upper edge of the basin, especially the east face, is damaged. A dark stain, like a tidemark, runs horizontally across the faces of the basin. Jack Sterry identified that the font was broken into three pieces while being moved during building works in 1797, and the pieces were removed from the church and used to decorate the garden of the rectory at Fincham. In the 1840s the pieces were reassembled, partially restored, and returned to the church. The font was subsequently more fully restored, and worn elements reground to return it to its original appearance. It is possible that the dark stain is a result of this damage/restoration.

The figures beneath the arcades enact the so-called 'Labours of the Months'. The labours as depicted on the font are:

January: drinking
February: warming feet
March: digging
April: pruning
May: 'beating of the bounds' or Rogationtide
June: clearing weeds
July: scything/mowing
August: sheaf binding
September: threshing
October: grinding
November: slaughtering pig
December: feasting

The months run anti-clockwise so that one walks around it with the sun and not against it. Labours of the Months motifs are often specific to the geography of where the motif was made, reflecting the different activities that happen in different months in varying locations. However, at Burnham Deepdale the carving for the month of May is particularly unique. It shows a figure standing by a tall plant and holding what appears to be a flag. Pevsner identifies this as a representation of the 'beating of the bounds', which is an ancient English custom where communities walk the geographic limits of their parish or village. This is normally done during Rogationtide to ask for crop blessings and prevent neighbouring land encroachment, and participants traditionally struck boundary markers to firmly mark the borders of the community. Carl Watkins explains that there is a passing mention of the Rogationtide traditions in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry for 1063.

Tower

Whether or not the tower is pre- or post-Conquest is up to debate. The tower has been described as both Anglo-Saxon and post-Conquest; however, it is now believed that the tower is post-1066, built using traditional techniques. The tower once had a W doorway. It shows a mixture of features traditionally associated with Anglo-Saxon and Norman architecture. Of the former, the tower has an internal triangular-headed opening above the tower arch. However, the exterior lancet openings are round- headed and not the usual twin-openings which one might expect to see in an Anglo-Saxon tower. Nor are they double-splayed, which is also typical of Anglo-Saxon openings. The flintwork also suggests a later, post-conquest date for the tower. As Stephen Hart identified, Anglo-Saxon flintwork tends to be irregular and uncoursed, whereas Norman tends to be deliberate. The coursing at Burnham Deepdale is horizontal and regular. The tower at Burnham Deepdale has four lancet windows on its W side, and a triangular-headed doorway on the first stage above the tower arch inside the church.

Pevsner describes the tower as Anglo-Saxon on account of the triangular head of the internal doorway above the tower arch. The website for the Hunstanton Shore and Saxon Benefice, however, explains that the tower shows a range of influences and that it is most likely that the tower was built after 1066 using techniques that survived after the Norman invasion, in line with the argument of Stephen Hart who has argued that many round towers in England are of a later date than previously thought.

N Nave doorway

The presence of a keel moulding in the outer order suggests that this feature is probably of a Transitional date, c.1190-1200.