A trip to the ruin of St Mary's Church, East Somerton

I've wanted to visit this ruin ever since I first read about it and with Halloween just 2 days away and a forecast for sunshine I decided today was the day. We arrived at the Winterton Beach Road carpark (NR29 4AJ) cashless as has become the norm for us post Covid, and finding Apple pay wasn't going to save the day we drove back into the village and parked in front of the church which was on the 3.5 mile route we planned to complete so all was good.


After taking a few photos we exited the church grounds at the tower end and immediately turned right to start our walk. It's pleasant enough, initially passing between allotment plots and then joining very quiet tracks and roads up to St Mary's. In fact we didn't see a single car and all the dogs we met along the way were off their leads. We had views across fields and woodland and the hedgerows were lit with bursts of colour from all manor of autumn berries and rosehips.

AND just look at that blue sky! 

We could have easily missed St Mary's all together had we not been looking for it. Roofless, heavily draped in ivy and surrounded by trees, its presence was really only obvious by the fencing that's been erected around it and, although there were other walkers around they breezed by with barely a second look, locals probably at this time of year, so we had the site to ourselves.  

Approaching the church from the side and having read about the fencing I still felt great disappointment that we couldn't enter the church until we realised that you can do so through the main entrance to the front. 

With no door to distract your vision you can't help but let your eyes be drawn upwards to the top of the arched entrance, above which grows a halo of ivy.

Inside, the church walls aren't nearly as obscured as the exterior but I feel a definite temperature change on stepping over the threshold, the surrounding trees no doubt allowing only dappled sunlight to reach the interior or is the presence of the monks that are said the haunt the church causing that chill?

Having seen photos of the oak tree growing in the middle of the church its presence doesn't come as a surprise. What does surprise me is how in keeping it looks with the overall scene; the glass of the windows replaced by long trails of ivy and behind them the slim trunks of multiple trees - it actually feels quite natural that a tree should be growing in the open space of the interior. 

The church tower funnels the sunlight but I can't bring myself to step into it even though I know it would give me a better perspective on the interior.

We spend some time photographing it all from seemingly every angle but I can't leave until I've walked round the tree 3 times for the myth says that the presence of that tree is far from natural and is infact, sprouted from the wooden leg of a suspected witch buried alive in the church at the height of the English witch trials. She is said to have enchanted the leg to grow into a tree to destroy the church.  It is also said that anyone walking around the tree 3 times will release the witch's spirit but that the church is haunted by monks who keep intruders from releasing her spirit.  Well, it was a Halloween walk so.......

All seemed to be fine until we left the church and noticed the sky was no longer blue and within 5 minutes of us leaving the church it was raining - not what was forecast! Maybe I shouldn't have been so blasé about my 3 turns round the tree!

We hadn't come prepared for wet weather so, thankful that we had chosen to make the church our first port of call we abandoned our planned 3.5 mile walk and retraced our steps back towards Winterton under threatening skies. 

Thankfully, the rain wasn't too bad so rather than turning off to return to the car we stayed on the path all the way to the dunes and then the beach where it became clear that we had definitely lost the sunshine for the afternoon. 

We wandered up to and crossed the beach carpark passing the cafe options which seemed to be shutting up for the day, and followed Beach Road back the car.

We stopped in at Hemsby beach 1.5 miles away on our way home and when I saw the sky there I couldn't help but wonder what I might have unleashed! Maybe it was time to call it a day.

Beach Road carpark (NR29 4AJ) is 16 miles from Brick Kiln Barns.

Walking distances:

From Winterton beach carpark to St Mary's 1.1 miles or 0.8 miles from Winterton Church.

From St Mary's to the beach was a further 1.35 miles and from here to return directly to Winterton Church where we had parked was a further 0.8 miles.

The 3.5 mile walk we had planned can be found here. 

In the summer months you can climb Winterton Church tower for far reaching views - details available here. 

You can find out more about the history of St Mary's Church and its future here.