St. Edmund's, Old Costessey

St. Edmund's Church sits on the brow of the hill on the edge of Old Costessey looking down toward the Wensum valley. It is probably the first landmark that cyclists and hikers see as they emerge from the suburbs of Norwich traveling along Marriott's Way. That was how it caught my attention anyway.

I arrived late in the afternoon in mid October. The sun was turning orange and cast long shadows in the graveyard and the clouds threatened rain which thankfully didn't materialise.

The church is named after King Edmund, who I learned from the information board was king of East Anglia around 855 A.D. and England's first patron saint before George. King Edmund was also known as Edmund the Martyr. Not much is known about Edmund but legend has it that he was beheaded by Vikings after he was defeated by their army and refused to renounce Christ. I couldn't find any record of his last words so i'm going to speculate that it was something like: "Oh, OK then. I mean, heads are probably overrated anyway. Whatever." 

At least he could take some solace in the knowledge that his nickname, 'the martyr', was cooler than that of his executioner Ivar the Boneless.

The board also mentions that the church that we can visit today was mostly finished by 1300 but noted that there have been small iterations in development since that time. I can remember being fascinated by the brick tower on the otherwise stone church in New Alresford in Hampshire where I grew up. In that case the bricks were part of a repair job. St. Edmund's neat little brick tower is one of the modifications that were made since 1300 along with the lead spire. The two together make it quite distinctive and were the inspiration for my visit.

I couldn't get into the church to look around on this occasion (perhaps because of Covid-19 concerns) so I didn't get the best views of the windows but they are still impressive from the outside. The gothic arches are typical of the Norman architecture of 1300.

Near the entrance is a grand looking tomb. I was hoping that i'd be able to read the inscription from the photo. I'll pop back one day and make a note.

The road that the church sits on is pretty quiet though I imagine it is used as a rat run. I don't remember hearing a car go by in the quarter of an hour or so that I was there.

The music playing in my head as I walked around St. Edmund's was 'The Blue Trees' by Welsh band Gorky's Zygotic Mynci. Perhaps it will be every time I visit a rural church.