St Mary the Virgin Overview Beachamwell St. Mary is a Grade I listed building, and one of 124 existing round-tower churches in Norfolk. St Mary's is the last surviving working church of the four that once served this parish territory. It is in the Diocese of Ely. A significant fire destroyed the roof on 2 February 2022. It was previously considered that the extant church was constructed in the late Saxon period, but new evidence indicates that the tower at least was erected post-Conquest (see description of tower, below). However, the nave interior gives witness to this tower having been added to a pre-existing building, so a late Saxon attribution to the west wall of the nave is reasonable. The church was substantially re-modelled in the Perpendicular style in a campaign covering the 14th and early 15th centuries. This involved the addition of a south aisle, a decorative north doorway with a porch, replacement windows and a new bell-chamber for the tower. There was a restoration in 1832, and another one of the chancel at the end of the 19th century. The plan comprises a nave of two bays with the round tower at the west end, a north porch, a chancel, and a south aisle which extends alongside the chancel giving an arcade of four bays overall (this extension was built in 1832). The edifice is built from flint, formerly mainly rendered in lime plaster, but much of this has fallen off, and what is left is in poor condition. There is some ashlar stonework, especially used as quoins, and also some brick dressings. Random ashlar rubble and brick also exists in the exposed wall fabric. There are both thatch and lead roofs. Tower The round tower looks like being built in the early 11th century. But new insights show that it is more probable that it was built in the 12th century by pre-Conquest workmen using their old fashioned style. This is due to the fact that the north and west of the four pairs of former sound-holes have triangular heads made of Barnack stone set on their flint jambs. Barnack stone was not available until the 12th century. This discovery throws into doubt the age of many other putatively late Saxon churches whose dating depends on stylistic features such as this. The tower is a flint cylinder, formerly rendered, which displays evidence that it was built in