NEN Gallery

The north porch at the west end of the north aisle is the main entrance to the church.It was built early in the 15th century and is two storeys high and two bays long. The lower storey has a stone floor and a ribbed stone vaulted ceiling with bosses at the intersections. At each side of the inner doors leading into the north aisle is a niche in which was probably a stoup or basin containing holy water. Worshippers entered the church, dipped their fingers into the stoup and crossed themselves in memory of their baptism vows.In the 15th century the porch was used for marriages, display of legal notices and secular meetings.David Davy's notes of 1829 reveal that the upper chamber was then in use as a schoolroom with stairs on the outside. The floor was covered with straw . He also described a piscina at the east end of the south wall thus indicating that the room had been a chapel. The piscina has not survived and there is no trace of the outer stairs.The parvis room as it is now called is entered by a staircase at the rear of the north aisle. Carvings of the Virgin Mary and The Angel Gabriel at the sides of the door discovered in 1853 indicate a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
The outer wrought iron gates of the north porch were given in memory of Trevor Hagger by his wife Dorothy in 1972.