Narford Church, Norfolk

Narford Church in Norfolk is another unusual place. It was built for a village which no longer exists, and sits by an ornamental lake, not far from the grounds of a mansion, Narford Hall. One may walk to the building up a grassy path, about a quarter of a mile from the public road, but I understand the landowners previously ‘discouraged’ access. The church was locked when I arrived, though sources suggest it is in a poor state within, with walls blackened by water ingress and the air of decay. A picture taken through a broken window (bottom) confirmed this. In addition, there was a sense of moral decay in the vicinity, for this is where local squire Andrew Fountaine held his Aryan Training Camps and gun practices. He was a founder of the National Front, a far-right, racist and anti-Semitic organisation. Little wonder he restricted access to the church, ostensibly built for the worship and proclamation of a Jewish Messiah. Although Fountaine was the Tory candidate for Chorley in 1949, he was later expelled from the party for his far-right views and activities.

I found this all rather depressing: a locked, decaying church and the legacy a neo-Nazi landowner. Unusually, however, for a Norfolk church, two Bible verses were inscribed on the tower’s crenelations. One was from Revelation 1, but the text I could not read, the other from 1 Thessalonians 4:14:

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

Despite the decay, the racial enmity, the dominance of the landed classes, the arguments over access- the word of God continued to survey the scene.

In Revelation 14, despite the horrific sins and crimes occurring on the earth, we are told from verse 6

Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”

The gun-toting skinheads in the hall’s grounds may not have bothered to read the scriptures on the tower, not unlike all other bitter and violent men and women, the whole world over. Yet the gospel of peace and truth continues to be proclaimed, and shall be until the end. Its bastions may be decaying and ruinous, but the message remains true.