Round-tower churches are a bit of an enigma as to why they are, well round and not square as most.  We can only speculate on the reasons behind their unique design.  One thing is for sure if you like your church history, Norfolk is the place to be to see these beautiful churches as there are 124 in the county. This makes it the best county in this country to explore their unique style.  You can find them abroad, Germany has evidence of about 20 round-tower churches, which are very similar in design to those in East Anglia.  Countries with at least one round-tower church include Andorra, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Poland, and even South Africa.  No consensus exists between experts as to why there are more round-tower churches in concentrated in the East of England, but perhaps it’s simply the lack of other stone building material that led to flint being used as a construction material.   As knapped flint does not lend itself to structural corners, building in the round makes perfect sense?   But this is still a topic of debate.

One such church is the thatched, round-towered church of St Matthias, Thorpe-next-Haddiscoe which sits dramatically above the marshes of the River Waveney.  The river and tributaries would have been familiar to the builders of this little church centuries ago.  Apart from a nearby farmhouse, the church is very remote from busy Haddiscoe village, of which this Thorpe was a hamlet.   The word ‘Thorpe’ is Viking in origin, but the bottom of the church appears Saxon.  The lower part of the tower appears to be Saxon, the chancel is an attractive rebuilding in red-brick, and the nave itself is tiny.  The font is a late Norman Purbeck marble font.  Clearly plenty to discover in this little church, perhaps you can solve the mystery of why round-tower churches exist, it might just be they look very beautiful?