Church of St John Maddermarket, Norwich

St John Maddermarket stands in the heart of Norwich, its flint walls rising above the old streets. Built mainly in the 15th and early 16th centuries, the church has a broad nave and short chancel, giving it a wide, low shape. The tower has four stages with a rib-vaulted ceiling and carved bosses, while the south aisle shows five buttresses and three tall windows. A 17th-century sundial marks the south wall, and the north porch may be the last remnant of an earlier Anglo-Saxon church. Statues line the parapet, and the tower arches once allowed processions to pass through. The church holds stories of actors, painters and mayors who shaped Norwich. In 1600 William Kempe finished his nine-day morris dance from London by leaping the churchyard wall. The Layer Monument, installed around 1600, shows four allegorical figures in Northern Mannerist style. Memorial brasses from the 15th century cover the floors, and a rood screen panel now in the Victoria and Albert Museum depicts William of Norwich with nails in his head. The organ, built in 1888, was moved here in 1913 after earlier stays in Lowestoft and Norwich. Inside, the east altar is framed by a wooden baldachin from 1741, and behind it hangs a Last Supper painting attributed to Livio Agresti. The font and pulpit date from 1864, and a revolving 18th-century lectern stands nearby. Stained glass includes a 1916 Tree of Jesse in the south chapel and fragments of 15th-century glass in the north aisle. The graveyard contains a 19th-century headstone carved with Masonic compasses and the Ouroboros symbol. The church’s wide space and rich details offer a quiet space to trace Norwich’s past.