The Round Tower Churches of East Anglia

Round tower churches are not only unique in structure, they are unique in location too. Predominantly found in England, the vast majority of these churches are in the region of East Anglia.

According to the Round Tower Church Society, of the 181 remaining structures in England, 126 are in Norfolk (my home county), 42 are in Suffolk, 6 are in Essex and 2 are in Cambridgeshire.

Lessons in local history from my dad

Despite constant efforts to ignore him, I’ve learned a lot of what I know about round tower churches from my dad.

Before retirement, his job took him all over the county of Norfolk, allowing him to tick off lots of the churches tucked away in rural locations and develop pretty enviable knowledge of Norfolk and its quirky churches.

Ask him about a sleepy Norfolk village and he’ll be able to tell you what the school is like (part of his job), and whether there is a round tower church there or not (definitely not part of his job).

When you realise you’re more like your parents than you’d care to admit

It was on a walk with my dad in Coltishall (deciding to stop off in nearby Hautbois) that I finally realised that after years of smirking through his miniature sorations on the latest church he’d visited (sorry dad), I’d actually absorbed some of the fondness that he has for these unique structures and their local history.

I hate to admit it but he had managed to spark my interest.

A tally of round-tower churches

I haven’t had the pleasure of visiting even half of the round tower churches that my dad has but I’m making it my personal mission to try. I don’t hold out much hope for my ability to rival him in the amount of local churches he has managed to visit but I do take some small pleasure in visiting one he hasn’t managed to get to yet.

I’ve started to share some of the round tower churches I’ve managed to visit, a bit about their history and the locations of East Anglia’s round towers below:

St Theobald’s Round-Tower Church – Hautbois, Norfolk

Even though it’s in a state of ruin, the church comes alive in springtime with a carpet of daffodils.

Everything, including the graffiti inside the church, is pretty old.

Why are the towers round?

Many of the round tower churches of East Anglia are Anglo Saxon of origin, the reasoning for their unique towers is somewhat disputed (most heavily by my dad and his friend).

One school of thought is that, due to the building materials available in East Anglia at the time the churches were being built, their creators were subsequently limited in building techniques too. Round tower churches are predominantly built from the local flint which is a difficult material to construct corners with as it is not easy to cut or work the stones into the correct shape. Because of this, it’s believed that this is the reason that the churches have distinctive, thick round walls instead.

The other opinion is that the towers were built as defensive structures against raids (with the towers having been built first and the churches added later). This one tends to be a less popular opinion for many reasons; the same limitations on building techniques would most likely have affected how high the towers were built (hence them often being short). The towers also often appear to have flat walls where they join to the main structure of the building (indicating that they were added to the church and not the other way around).

Aslacton, St Michael

Parts of south Norfolk are believed to have a particularly high concentration of medieval churches. Yet hidden gems like Aslacton St Michael can be a little difficult to find. Luckily, on my trip to Aslacton, I had a local guide (my boyfriend) to help me navigate the little country lanes that lead to the church.

This charming little round tower is believed to be late Saxon in origin and underwent restoration in 1890.

Forncett, St Peter

Forncett St Peter is a popular example of one of Norfolk’s medieval round tower churches, it is even believed to have features that date back to Saxon and even Roman periods.

Unfortunately, the church itself was locked during my visit but I took a respectful walk around the grounds to take in the impressive tower. Visiting church grounds like Forncett is extra special on a bright spring day as there often lots of flowers, like crocus and snowdrops littering the ground.

Where to find the round towers of East Anglia.

Norfolk: 

Suffolk:

If you’d like to discover what else there is to explore in the beautiful county of Norfolk, browse my Norfolk Life category. If local wildlife is your thing, you should read my post about the Seals of Horsey Gap.