St Nicholas Church, Dereham

About

Welcome to St Nicholas’ Church. Christians have worshiped on this site since 654 AD when St Withburga set up a religious community here. The present church building has its origins in the 12th century and has been enlarged and beautified over the centuries settling in it present form around 1500. St Nicholas’ is a place first and foremost of worship. The interior has changed over the centuries to match the missional and worship needs of the town. In the church you will find the grave and memorial to the poet William Cowper and a number of representations of St Withburga. There is a brass remembering a survivor of the Charge of the Light Brigade. In the churchyard is St Withburga's Well. Near it the grave of Jean de Narde, a Napoleonic Prisoner of War, who escaped from the bell tower and was shot.