HOLY TRINITY CHURCH - SCOULTON

Scoulton church is a familiar landmark on the busy road from Norwich to Watton and beyond. Bryant refers to it as All Saints', but it is now dedicated to the Holy Trinity. There is no evidence of earlier constructions on this site, or of other religious or pagan buildings in the village.

It was built at the beginning of the fourteenth century and remains largely unchanged; the only major addition being the tower in about 1340. In the fifteenth century the east wall was rebuilt and the fine window added; the porch was also changed. Two restorations took place in the nineteenth century, in about 1830 and 1885. These were largely inside the church, but externally dormer windows over the side aisles were removed.

Situation

The church initially appears to stand in an isolated position. However, it serves a thriving, if scattered, rural community. There is no evidence of earlier housing around the church, although originally there would have been a settlement, which has since shifted away. The church stands at the junction of three manors: the Old-lands (or Mortimers), the New-lands (or Burdeloss), and Scoulton Hall manor.

The B1108 road through Scoulton is remarkably straight, and it is not surprising to find that it follows the line of a Roman road, which runs from Caister St. Edmund, south of Norwich to Denver, near Downham Market where it joined a causeway across the Fens. The churchyard also stands adjacent to this road and remains of it lie buried beneath the trees on the southern boundary of the churchyard.

Looking westwards towards Norwich the line of the road passes away across the fields, north of the old school, to merge with the present main road just past Mere Road. Eastwards the present road follows the line of that of the Roman way into Watton and beyond.

The village is a small, scattered community of some ninety properties, which date from the eighteenth century to the present day. It has not grown much over the years; many of the small adjoining cottages have been turned into single dwellings, and the Methodist chapel and local barns into houses. Most of the new houses have been built in Warners End, previously just a public footpath adjoining the post office last run by Mrs Warner.

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