The Wayland area of Norfolk lies in the center of the county between the major towns of Thetford and Dereham. The ‘Church Tours Project’ was started to involve the local community in researching the history, architecture and social rule of the numerous and fascinating medieval churches in the area. The information gathered is to be used in the promotion of tourism and providing a documented history of the churches, which can be used for recreational and educational purposes.

The project was initially set-up with the Partnership Events and Tourism Officer overseeing the whole scheme. Three volunteer team leaders were selected to run groups studying architecture/archaeology, ecclesiastical history and social history. However, it soon became apparent after the first few meetings, that people were mainly interested in researching all aspects of their own parish church. It was therefore decided to allocate to each church a small group of between one and three researchers with the Team Leaders taking on an advisory roll. There were three churches, out of eighteen, that did not have volunteer researchers; these were allocated to researchers with no specific parish affinity. To-date (Feb. 2004), we have completed the research phase of the project and have written submission on all eighteen churches. These have now been sent to Professor Rob Liddiard at the University of East Anglia to have their historic content checked.

One of the first problems encountered, just as the research phase was starting, was that the Norfolk Records Office(NRO) decided to close for six months, whilst they moved to a new location. However, by consulting secondary sources (Pevsner, Bloomfield, Bryant etc) and using the facilities at the Norfolk Archaeological Unit and Heritage Library, this has not proved too much of a hindrance. Since the NRO opened, in its new building, at the end of November, it has been used by volunteer researches to confirm and increase the information gathered during the closed period. Another problem arose when first one of the team leaders left the area and then the Events and Tourism Officer handed in her notice. The remaining team leaders decided that they could manage with just the two of them and also continued to run the project whilst a new officer was found and appointed. Claire Salley has settled in well as the new project manager, joining the Partnership in December 2003.

We are now moving into the next phase of the project, which involves setting up both guided and independent tours. It is envisaged that guided tours will take place approximately once a month with the volunteer researches acting as guides. Claire is currently organizing a Church Guides Course for the volunteers. To assist people on the independent tours, a guidebook and audio guide are being produced. The guidebook will contain information on all eighteen churches as well as photographs and illustrations produced by local artists. BBC Radio Norfolk has been commissioned to produce the audio guide which will include commentary by researchers, sound effects (bells, organs etc) and actors reading the part of any notable characters.