Forncett's Churches

Like most English villages, Forncett has a number of churches.

Earliest in time were the two parish churches, St Peter and St Mary. Through most of the centuries both were looked after by the same rector, but they were separated in the 19th century, so that each could be independent with a rector; John William Colenso was appointed the first rector of the parish St Mary in 1846.

Baptist Tabernacle Chapel at Forncett End was established in 1754 as part of the Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion and became General Baptist in the early nineteenth century. It had an attached burial yard. In the 1960s it was closed and bought by a local farmer, to be used as a grain store. The members were then taken on by the Particular Baptist Chapel at Carleton Rode.

Forncett St Peter Methodist Church at Forncett End was established as a ‘Ranters’ Chapel’ in 1835. The present building for the Primitive Methodists was erected in 1865 and became part of the Wymondham & Attleborough Circuit, which has recently become amalagamated with the Norwich Group. There is an attached burial ground.

Forncett St Mary Chapel was established in the nineteenth century by John Ludkin,

who then built a chapel for the Primitive Methodists in 1888. This was closed in about 1990, the members then worshipping at Forncett End. The building was sold and bought privately.

St Edmund at Forncett End – daughter church of St Peter’s – was built in 1904 to serve the then thriving hamlet of Forncett End.