St. Mary the Less

The church is medieval but became redundant in 1544 when its parish was absorbed by St George's, Tombland. In the mid-1560s,St Mary the Less was assigned as their bay hall to 24 Dutch masters representing the first of the Elizabethan Strangers in Norwich. The building was used as a wool hall where Dutch merchants sold cloth. In 1637 it was converted into a church for Walloon and French Protestants, l’Église Protestante Française de Norwich or the French Church, Norwich. Pastors at this time included John Bruckner and Joseph Nicol Scott. In 1989 it was sold into private ownership by the Norwich French Church Charity. It is on the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register, which says it is…