St Theobald's Church is a former church at Great Hautbois, near

Coltishall Coltishall is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. Coltishall is located on the River Bure and within the Norfolk Broads, north-west of Wroxham and north-east of Norwich. Etymology Coltishall's name is of Old Engli ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, England. During the medieval period it was a place of pilgrimage to a shrine of St Theobald; it remained in use until a new church was built in the 19th century. It is a

round-tower church Round-tower churches are a type of church found mainly in England, mostly in East Anglia; of about 185 surviving examples in the country, 124 are in Norfolk, 38 in Suffolk, six in Essex, three in Sussex and two each in Cambridgeshire and Berks ...

. The building is

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

, and a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

Description

The dedication

The dedication of the church was originally to the Assumption of Saint Mary the Virgin; it has later been regarded as dedicated to St Theobald,"Great Hautbois St Mary"
''The Round Tower Churches of Europe''. Retrieved 14 April 2023. as described in the ''History of Norfolk'', published by Charles Parkin in the 18th century: "In this church was a famous image of St Theobald, commonly called St Tebbald of Hobbies; it was much frequented for its many pretended miracles, so that pilgrimages used to be made to it.... 1507 Thomas Wood of Cowteshale gave legacies to the gild of the Virgin Mary, in the church of the Assumption of the Virgin at Hobbies, and to paint the new tabernacle of St Theobald there, and this saint being so famous, made some mistake the dedication of the church, and suppose it to have been dedicated to St Theobald, which is not so."

History

The church was built in the 11th century, of knapped flint and flint rubble, in Early English style. There was originally an aisleless

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

. The round tower was built in the 12th century. In the 13th century the chancel was extended and a south

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

was added, to house an image of St Theobald. The south aisle, adjoining the transept, and connected to the nave through two arches, was built in the 14th century, perhaps to accommodate pilgrims; a porch was added in the following century. Associated with the church was the Hospital of St Mary, for pilgrims to the church, founded about 1235 by Sir Peter de Alto Bosco, or Hautbois, who possessed half of the manor of Great Hautbois. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, when the patronage of the church was granted to the

Duke of Norfolk Duke of Norfolk is a title in the peerage of England. The premier non-royal peer, the Duke of Norfolk is additionally the premier duke and earl in the English peerage. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the t ...

, the church was no longer regarded as a place of pilgrimage. Holy Trinity Church, designed by

Thomas Jeckyll Thomas Jeckyll (1827 Wymondham, Norfolk – 1881 Norwich) (baptised on 20 June 1827) was an English architect who excelled in the creation of metalwork and furniture strongly influenced by Japanese design, and is best known for his planning in ...

, was built in the village in 1864 to replace this church. It contains the font from the former church. The chancel of St Theobald's was converted into a mortuary chapel, and the rest of the building was left as a ruin; the graveyard remained in use.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Hautbois, St Theobald's Church Grade II* listed churches in Norfolk Scheduled monuments in Norfolk Church of England church buildings in Norfolk Former churches in Norfolk Round-tower churches