Churches

St Mary the Virgin, Pulham St Mary

First appeared in Let's Talk! Norfolk, November 2004

A proud wolf guards the head of St Edmund

In the year 869, probably at Hoxne in north Suffolk , the 27-year-old Edmund, king of East Anglia , was killed by invading Danes.

Beaten in battle near Thetford, and taken prisoner, he is said to have been tied to a tree and shot full of arrows after refusing to renounce Christianity. Legend has it that he was then beheaded - and his head was found and guarded by a wolf until it could be reunited with his body.

The cult of the martyred king became popular throughout the Middle Ages, and images of the wolf guarding St Edmund's head can be found all over East Anglia.

St John the apostle on the rood screen is identifiable by the little dragon emerging from his poisoned chalice

One of the finest is a stone carving that adorns the grand 15th century porch at Pulham St Mary.

Even if you don't enter the church, the porch alone is worth a visit.

Apart from St Edmund, other figures on the parapet include a wodewose, or wild man, sitting very jauntily cross-legged, with his club on his shoulder.

Carvings on the porch façade include the Annunciation, and angels holding shields with symbols of the Passion and the Trinity. There is also a delightful band of eight small angels playing medieval instruments - lutes, viols, trumpets and shawms (an early relative of the clarinet).

Once inside, there is much else to enjoy in this largely 14 th century church, which was restored with more sensitivity than usual in the Victoria era.

Especially, you should not miss the painted panels of the roodscreen. Though heavily damaged, it appears to have had pictures of 16 saints, including the Apostles, of whom six can still be identified by their emblems - St Jude with a boat, St Simon with a fish, St James as a pilgrim, St Andrew with his saltire cross, St John with a poisoned chalice, and St James the Less with a fuller's club.