Christianity comes to Anglo-Saxon Sprowston

Christianity Comes to Sprowston

In the 6th and 7th centuries Monasteries monks were travelling around East Anglia to spread the Christian word, with the Celtic Church moving down from Lindisfarne in Northumberland, and the Catholic Church (Augustine of Canterbury) moving up from Kent in the South.

Celtic Christianity, with some traditions different from those of Rome, was present in Roman Britain from the first century AD, but after the departure of the Roman legions was in retreat to paganism. In 597 AD, the first authoritative papal mission, establishing a direct link from the Kingdom of Kent to the See of Rome and to the Benedictine form of monasticism, was carried into effect by Augustine of Canterbury. The Pope sent Augustine of Canterbury and 40 missionaries from Rome to evangelise the Anglo-Saxons.

In the mid-7th century (at the Synod of Whitby – 644) the Celtic Church and the Catholic Church met and it was agreed that the two churches unite.

St. Benets Abbey on Cowholme Island on the Norfolk Broads was founded in Anglo-Saxon times. It closed in the 16th century due to its isolation.

===Changes come over the centuries.=== 

The English Church continuously adhered to the See of Rome for almost a thousand years from the time of Augustine of Canterbury, but in 1534, during the reign of King Henry VIII, the church, through a series of legislative acts between 1533 and 1536 became independent from the Pope for a period as the Church of England, a national church with Henry declaring himself Supreme Head. Under Henry's son, Edward VI, the Church of England became more influenced by the European Protestant movement. For more information see St. Mary and St. Margaret.

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  The Grubhouse depicted as they were built as the earliest Christian places of worship.

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  Routes of Christianity to East Anglia

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  Early Religious sites in Norfolk and Suffolk

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  St Benet’s Abbey prior to the windmill being demolished.