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Parish celebrates restored 1,000-year-old church

Mariam Issimdarand
Laura Foster,in Forncett
News imageBBC A church is full of people looking down at service sheets standing. The pews are full and it is a bright church. BBC
Worshippers attended a special service to celebrate the St Peter's restoration

A Grade I listed round-tower church has been restored after a community raised about £850,000 for it to be repaired.

St Peter's Church in Forncett, Norfolk, which is thought to be more than 1,000 years old, had holes in its roof and cracks in its walls.

The Friends of St Peter's organised bake sales, quizzes and Christmas markets to fundraise more than £50,000 for the works, alongside securing nearly £800,000 through National Lottery funding and other grants.

The church held a special service on Sunday to celebrate its reopening and the removal of the building from the at-risk register.

News imageRuth Blackman Pulpit in a church is covered with a cloth and red-and-white tape sections off the area around it. A huge arched windows is to the side of the pulpit. Pews are in front of it. Ruth Blackman
The pulpit area was previously sectioned off as the area was unsafe

St Peter's Church includes a 15th Century alabaster tomb, intricately carved pew ends, a rare ancient wooden staircase and a memorial connected to William Wordsworth's family.

The church underwent the major restoration between November 2024 and March.

The works included reslating the nave and chancel roofs, masonry and flintwork repairs, replacing a roof covering and installing new drainage systems.

St Peter's has been on Historic England's heritage at-risk register since 2019.

Anya Wallace, who got married at St Peter's and her father was a former church warden, said: "We had a candlelit wedding, when the church was looking quite good, but actually, today, it's looking even better."

News imageAnya Wallace wears glasses and stands in the church looking at the camera. She is smiling.
Anya Wallace used to live in Forncett and said it had previously been sad to see the church deteriorate

Becky Ryan said: "It seemed quite an overwhelming task and now it's all completed... it's just amazing."

Her mother Gillian Barnes, who was a former church warden, added: "It's been a mammoth task and so many people have helped."

She said birds had been nesting inside the church before the renovation, adding: "We had a hole where the vicar stood in the pulpit."

News imageTwo women stand in St Peter's. The both wear glasses. Becky Ryan has long grey-blond hair. Her mother Gillian Barnes has short grey hair. They wear warm jackets and scarves. Both are smiling.
Becky Ryan and her mother Gillian Barnes said the restoration was a huge community effort

Terry Hickman Smith, who project-managed the restoration on behalf of the village, said: "[The church] was in a terrible state... If it had gone on much longer it would have been unrepairable."

The church still needed some internal decoration, which the group would now fundraise for, he added.

"The church has really benefited. And we like to think it will be here for the next 1,000 years."

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