Church of St Theobald

St Theobald’s Church stands in the quiet village of Great Hautbois, a short distance from Coltishall in Norfolk. Built of knapped flint and flint rubble in the 11th century, it was once a round-tower church with an aisleless nave and chancel. The round tower was added in the 12th century, and in the 13th the chancel was lengthened and a south transept built to house an image of St Theobald. A south aisle followed in the 14th century, perhaps to hold pilgrims, and a porch was added in the 15th. The church became a major pilgrimage site in the medieval period because of its reputed miracles and the fame of St Theobald’s image. Charles Parkin wrote in the 18th century that pilgrims travelled to the shrine, and in 1507 Thomas Wood of Coltishall left money for the Virgin Mary’s guild and to paint a new tabernacle for St Theobald. After the Dissolution, patronage passed to the Duke of Norfolk and the pilgrimages ended. In 1864 Thomas Jeckyll designed Holy Trinity Church in the village to replace it, and the old chancel became a mortuary chapel while the rest fell into ruin. Visitors today find a roofless nave and chancel with the round tower still standing, its flint walls weathered by centuries. The south transept and aisle remain partly intact, showing where pilgrims once gathered. The old font now sits in Holy Trinity Church, and the graveyard continues to be used. The church is Grade II* listed and a scheduled monument, a quiet witness to Norfolk’s medieval past.