Oulton Chapel: History and Architecture

Tickets can be booked at www.heritageopendays.org.uk

An Independent congregation was established at Oulton almost  three hundred years ago and although the Chapel no longer witnesses  regular services, it is essentially the same building that was opened in  1731. 

The Grade II* listed chapel is a red brick building with a double shaped  gable at each end in the Flemish style, fashionable in the late 17th  century. Inside, the ground floor seating and pulpit belong to a  nineteenth century re-furnishing, while the original box pews survive in  the upper gallery. Behind the pulpit is the original octagonal sounding  board and back. The Chapel became disused in the 1960s and its  condition deteriorated. 

Also on the Oulton site is a coach house, which originally housed the  Minister’s pony and trap, and the Manse which is privately occupied.   

In March 2023 part of the site was opened as a natural burial ground.  

The chapel is open on the second Sunday of the month, 2-4pm, from April  to October. It is owned by Historic Norfolk (the new operating name of Norfolk Historic  Buildings Trust) and is hidden away in the quiet lanes of the north  Norfolk countryside, approximately 4 miles from Aylsham.   

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.