St Andrew's is the parish church of Little Massingham, a hamlet just to the north of Great Massingham. It is said to be one of the prettiest churches in the area, the white and greys of the flint setting off the pattern of old red bricks.The wall of the stair turret on the south side of the tower is certainly patterned with red bricks, probably made in an old brickyard on the other side of the lane, but the 'red bricks' in the south clerestory wall are pieces of red chalk quarried near Hunstanton on the North Norfolk Coast.

 

The 15th century porch has panels of flint flush work on either side of the entrance. Much of the rest of the church is 14th century, but a blocked window in the north wall of the chancel is thought to be Norman. The Domesday Survey says that the two Massinghams were already separate and distinct communities. So it is likely that the Normans built a stone church at Little Massingham to replace a wooden Saxon church, just as they did in so many other places.

 

The tomb-chest under the tower is the burial place of Sir John L' Estrange (d1517) and his wife Margaret. It is of grey marble, and has holes for the rivets that once secured brass effigies of the couple and other brass ornamentation. It was initially sited in the south-east corner of the nave, then at a later date moved across the nave and sunk in flush with the floor near the pulpit. It was moved to its present position in 1857 when the floor was tiled. The Victorian pulpit by Thomas Jekyll dates from the same year. The squint (or hagioscope) was cut at an angle through the wall by the chancel arch in medieval times. It was so that the priest officiating at the Lady Chapel altar could watch and so keep in time with the Rector at the main Altar in the chancel.