St Mary the Less, the Norwich church hidden in plain view.

 One thing I've noticed in my time in East Anglia compared to London is the insane amount of churches that very rarely seem to have anyone go in. Where I grew up in London there was always someone about in each church you walked past. Sometimes there would be a strange sense of unease in a church the first time you'd enter before being reassuringly ushered in to speak with the local attendant about why you were there or if you needed any help. On the contrary, most of the churches I went to when I was younger were filled with singing and cheering. A great sense of familiarity and happiness was always found in the local churches in my area back then which I've in all honesty rarely seen in Norfolk and Suffolk.

Hidden in plain sight.

I should add I grew out of organised religion in my early teens however, my church time is usually dedicated to seeing a local attraction or market setup for local traders. So I may just be missing out on the communities formed within the churches here. Maybe I just long to walk past a church and hear a belting chorus of "Our god is an awesome god" from half of the neighbourhood while heading to Games Workshop on a Sunday morning.

I first saw the 'strangers hall' a few years ago when I was walking to a store to pick up some cards. I didn't really know what the term meant but my lovely wife pointed to a plaque that had some French on that roughly filled in the gaps for us. (Being married to a Belgian national has its perks) Later on after asking the game store owner about the 'Strangers Hall' he mentioned that there used to be a church nearby that got lost to time that they used to use.

Soon after I spotted a post about the strangers hall on 'Secret Norwich' asking if anyone knew about the church that was there. And then... I had my answers.

Someone posted a photo of a pretty unassuming closed wooden door with a cobblestone top. Could just be a entrance to a flat neighbouring a shop right? Well... not really....

Apptly named Strangers Gate

 So apparently the Strangers were a group of refugees seeking asylum. My wife actually mentioned the strangers once as part of the history that our countries shared and that they'd come up when she looked into communities in Norwich when she first moved over.

So it was set, I had an hour before work and I'd just finished my modest breakfast of a can of Monster and a Sugar Waffle it was time to start exploring!

And almost immediately, I took a wrong turn and managed to get stuck not once but twice in a closed off road.... A kind Norfolk gent pointed me in the right direction of what looked like a kissing gate in the middle of some flats. (More on that at some point in the future!)

I managed to get to Tombland and began scooting towards where I was sure that the entrance was located. Famous last words as I hit anglia square with no sign of the famous missing church.

Eventually I doubled back and took some time to work it out... It wasn't easy but using some combination of google and a review of a closed restaurant that was near the entrance I managed to find it.

First impressions were definitely a major "How on earth did I miss this....." but if you ever go there you'll probably do the same.

The church itself is hidden from most points of view, though if you're a keen eyed observer you can spot the infamous narrow tower thats sadly had all of its details and archways bricked over.

Taking a walk around I spotted this gate that I'd walked past constantly without really paying much attention, and yes.. that's part of the Church hidden in plain view behind a old forged gate.

You really wouldn't
spot this would you?

Part of the beauty though is really how well hidden it is, if you were to look up at the church through the gap you could probably believe it was just a forgotten part of the close by St Michael at plea church.

So I figured I'd take some time to scoot around and see what I could unearth and if there was any passageways in. Unsurprisingly... there wasn't. There was however what looked like either 2 churches or one big church. Another lead? Maybe, I'm planning to pop in at some point and ask if they have any different views of the forgotten church.

The gap between the churches is quite big in fairness, I've considered getting a small drone to fly over and have a look but currently that's not on the radar.

I did find out that occasionally there's open days that open the place up (If that's you reading this hit me up!) but I'm going to speak to the Norwich Strangers Hall that I found nearby on the cobblestone street. When they reopen of course....

In the green is the area that St Mary the Less occupies, the red is St Michael-at-Plea which on the first view was what I thought the church pieces that are visible from the street level belonged to. The gap inbetween however says different....

I logged the location on RealNote alongside most of the other stuff I've found in Norwich. If you download the app on the store you can see where I've been! :)