Church of St Stephen

St Stephen’s is a Grade I listed parish church in Norwich, standing beside the Chapelfield shopping centre. It is one of the few English churches dedicated to Saint Stephen and has served the city since at least the early 12th century. The earliest written record, from St Benet’s Abbey, calls it a monasterium and shows it hosted the county courts of Norfolk and Suffolk. Henry I granted the advowson to Bishop Herbert de Losinga, who ensured Norwich Cathedral shared its income. By 1254 its value was eight marks, second only to St Peter Mancroft, and it remained an important city church through the Middle Ages. The present building dates mainly from the 14th and 16th centuries, with later changes. The aisles were added around 1350, the clerestory around 1540, and the chancel rebuilt between 1521 and 1534. In 1601 the north porch was raised to form a tower, and in 1648 the Great Blow riot shattered its windows. The east window contains figures from 1511 brought from Mariawald monastery in Germany, while other panels were reassembled after the riot. The church also holds modern glass by Alfred Wilkinson showing Margery Kempe and Nativity scenes. Inside, the nave and chancel show the pre- and post-Reformation divide. The roof has hammerbeam construction and there are piscinae for two side chapels. Four medieval stalls with misericords survive in the chancel, and brasses commemorate Thomas Cappe, the Brasyer family, and Elenor Buttry. The 16th-century font with its 17th-century cover now stands in the former Saint Anne chapel. A 1747 mural tablet by John Ivory and Lucy Bignold’s 1894 painted reredos add further layers of history. The churchyard, once quiet, is now a busy thoroughfare leading past the glass west doors.