Woodwork From This Redundant Church

A Memory of Thetford.

Eating lunch today in Wetherspoon's in Brighton Marina, I noticed that a good deal of ecclesiastical woodwork had been incorporated into the structure. I was able to trace it back to this church via a dedicatory inscription on one peice which referred to Alfred Fowler Smith. Dr Smith was Rector of this church from 1863 till his death in 1891. The Rood Screen - the wooden tracery across the chancel arch in the centre of this picture - is also clearly recognisible as the screen now on the ground floor of Wetherspoon's. It's a strange comment on our society that a chancel arch should have ended up in a pub (though I know of some choir stalls from an abbey that were built into a kitchen wall in the 1540s, inside what is now a brewery). Better than going for firewood, I suppose - and the church itself, which became redundant in 2004, is now apparently being rescued.
CB