A.S.
26.] the Norman nave was as long as that we have, which is built in
all probability on its foundation. The aisleless Norman church,
however, had a central tower to the east of the present chancel arch
and transepts, as well as a chancel. This church appears to have stood
till the fourteenth century, when it was entirely rebuilt and
reclaimed, and all the lower part of the present church built, to be
heightened and lengthened at the end of the fifteenth century when the
clerestory and the chancel arcade were built, a new aisle wall set up
on the north and the south aisle raised, the rood loft built or
rebuilt.
We are reminded of all this history by the fine altar tomb in the
north chapel where lie William Goldwell and Alice his wife (d. 1485).
Their son James was Vicar of Great Chart in 1458, and became Bishop of
Norwich in 1472, when he obtained from the Pope "an indulgence in aid
of the restoration of Great Chart church which had been damaged by
fire." Here is the cause and the source of the fifteenth century
alterations and the church we see. The brasses in the church are also
interesting.
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