Community celebrates restored 1,000-year-old church

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.

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."

Becky Ryan and her mother Gillian Barnes were at the service of celebration.

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

Barnes, who was a former church warden, said: "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."

"We've got drain envy now with other parishes because we've got some beautiful drains," she added.

Terry Hickman Smith, who project managed the restoration on behalf of the village, said: "[The church] was in a terrible state.

"There was red and white tape around the pulpit and red and white tape around the church to stop people getting too close because slates were falling off.

"If it had gone on much longer it would have been unrepairable."

The church still needed some internal decoration, which the group would now fund raise for, said Hickman Smith.

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

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