This study of a Carmelite Friary at Burnham Norton in north Norfolk has concentrated on the site's post-Dissolution history. It is a period not commonly investigated for monastic or mendicant sites, and especially not in the case of small sites like this friary. A multi- disciplinary approach was taken by studying archival sources, historical maps and images, oral history records, and surveying the village for re-used ex-Friary building materials. Through the combination of these sources it can now be appreciated how the Friary's many secular owners developed the site as a farmstead, how some of the buildings changed over time whilst others were demolished, and how the Friary's building materials were re-used throughout the village. Moreover, hitherto unknown pre-Dissolution aspects of the Friary have also been illuminated, for example features of the Carmelites’ estate, and tantalising details about their buildings.

Drawing together all the findings from this study, with recent magnetometry data and other information, a new post-Dissolution chronology of the Friary is presented below.

1538: Year of dissolution

We start with a conjectured description of the Friary as it probably appeared in spring 1538. The largest building was the thirteenth-century church, with its southern aisle and arcade of arches, central bell tower (possibly octagonal, like those of other friary churches in England) and lead roof. Its nave alone was almost 20% wider and 40% longer than that of the nearby parish church. The friars’ church was probably divided by a walking space under the tower into the public nave and the friars’ private choir. There was some painted glass in the windows, and at least one alabaster carving (inside the building, maybe from an altarpiece or a tomb), but the church was probably restrained in design and decoration. There might have been memorials inside to various Calthorpes and Hemenhales (members of the Friary's founding families), as well as to prominent Carmelites and other local worthies.

The fourteenth-century Friary gatehouse may have been one of the most ornate of the Carmelites’ buildings. It connected to other structures of unknown, but probably medieval, date on its north and south sides, the latter being two storeys high. The cloister lay north of the church and its eastern range seems to have contained a two-storey building that linked the church to a separate building further north. The latter may have been the prior's lodgings, the guesthouse or infirmary.