The parish of Beachamwell (often rendered as Beechamwell) lies in western Norfolk roughly 5 miles southwest of the market town of Swaffham. Beachamwell is a small and slightly scattered village lying a little over 2 miles south of the A1122 road which links Swaffham with Downham Market. Beachamwell sits within Norfolk's share of Breckland, an area of impoverished soils lying upon glacial deposits which defied most attempts at arable farming, the normal activity of a Norfolk parish. The local speciality was marked by early gazetteers which describe almost 45% of the parish acreage as set to warrenries for the growth of rabbits, both for food and for the valuable fur. Beachamwell was unusual in having, at one time 3 parish churches, besides St Mary on The Street, the ruin of St John (just the western tower and parts of the northern wall) stands 3/4s of a mile to the northwest and the equally ruined All Saints(rubble from the chancel walling) stands about 1 half mile to the south; both churches ceased operations prior to the transcript period.

It is quite sad to describe the St Mary that existed when I took these photographs, for on 2nd February 2022 a dreadful fire took hold destroying much of the church that has stood here since the 11th or 12th century. Thankfully restoration is in hand, the Streetview image of April 2023 for The Street shows well the state of the church at that date. With its round tower the church is Anglo-Saxon in origin, probably 12th or possibly 11th century in origin. Other Saxon work is shown in the nave walling. Apart from the early portions much else is of the typical Perpendicular era, the top-most stage of the western tower and the southern arcade illustrating the style ably. From the mid-14th century comes a doorway from chancel to vestry whilst of the 16th century is the stepped gable brick porch. A Georgian restoration of 1832 added two eastern bays. I am sure all will wish the parishioners well in their efforts to bring St Mary back to life after the disaster and back to serving its community for another few hundred years too. It is advised not to visit as at 2023 when this was written as the church is fenced for safety and work is in progress