Little Houghton Parish Church

Image: © David Dixon Taken: 19 Aug 2018

The Church of St Mary the Virgin at Little Houghton is a Grade II* listed building (Historic England List entry Number: 1041558 https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1041558 ). There is no record of a church in the village of Little Houghton at the time of the Domesday Book but there is evidence that one was founded by William de Hohtone around AD1100. There are no traces of the original building, probably of wood, remaining. Of the present church, the south door arch and the font are thought to date from about AD1200. The original three-storey tower, dating from around 1225, is of fine proportion with an upper arcade of five openings on each face. It is likely that these were filled-in, creating a ‘blind’ arcade, when the fourth, bell stage, storey with parapet and finely decorated limestone frieze, was added in about 1425. The blind arcade is considered to be an unusual and special feature of the tower, the whole of which underwent a complete restoration in 2010. The church was substantially rebuilt in the Gothic style in 1873-74 when the nave was heightened with a three-bay clerestory and the north aisle was added. The tower arch, heavily restored during the Victorian rebuilding, and the chancel arch together with an adjacent, smaller arch in the south wall of the chancel, are the only parts that remain of the early thirteenth century work. An extension to the west end of the north aisle was added in 2000, to provide kitchen facilities (http://www.littlehoughtonvillage.co.uk/the-parish-church/ History of The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin).

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