St Margaret's Cley

This is the parish church in Cley, but you'll be surprised given the size of the church that Cley-next-the-Sea is just a village with a population of 420 and the sea is at least half a mile away across the marshes.

Medieval Cley was at the harbour mouth of Blakeney Haven and St Margaret's was the biggest, grandest and most expensive of the four churches of Blakeney Haven and overlooked the harbour. It was built in the early 14th Century, when England was devoutly Catholic and where the great landed families of Norfolk competed to influence the Crown, and where the streets thronged with wealthy merchants and their workers. 

I would love to see more tv programmes exploring how towns and cities have changed over time. 

There was a small group of people with binoculars standing near me, so I went over to see what they'd spotted - evidently it was a Black Redstart (I could just about see a bird on the side of the church tower!)