Eight centuries of history: the evolution of Becket’s Chapel
Sat, 09 Sept
|Wymondham
Heritage Open Days event. Free but places must be booked via the Heritage Open Days website. A talk by architectural historian Richard Halsey on the history of Becket's Chapel, Wymondham, including new material discovered during the chapel's recent repair and renovation programme.


Time & Location
09 Sept 2023, 16:00 – 17:00
Wymondham, 2 Church St, Wymondham NR18 0PH, UK
About the event
Becket’s Chapel has been at the heart of Wymondham life for over 800 years but by 2018 it was in a sorry state of repair and on Historic England’s Buildings at Risk register. In 2022 Historic Norfolk (Previously Norfolk Historic Buildings Trust) took over ownership of the building and began a program of repair and restoration, (thanks to grant funding of over £700,000), reopening in June 2023. This extensive repair programme enabled a thorough examination of the fabric of this medieval chapel and revealed a more complicated building history than previously thought. Founded in the late twelfth century, much of the building is fourteenth century but major works in the 1540s, following the Dissolution of its Wymondham Abbey owner, increased its size for use as the town's Grammar School. It also became used for many community functions until a big restoration by Thomas Jeckyll in the late nineteenth century gave us the building we see today. Richard Halsey is a trustee of Historic Norfolk and an architectural historian specialising in English ecclesiastical architecture. He worked for English Heritage and its predecessor for 30 years in both professional and managerial roles. In 2007 he was awarded the MBE for services to the conservation of the ecclesiastical heritage.