[1] The foundation charter stipulated that the prior, as a token of dependence, was to pay a mark of silver yearly to the abbot on the festival of St. Alban.

[2] Wymondham Priory was relatively small, initially for some twelve Benedictine monks, but grew in influence and wealth over the coming centuries.

[4] In 1174, the founder's grandson, William d'Aubigny III, established a chapel [5] in the town dedicated to Becket with two monks from the priory as chaplains.

Seven of the monks of St. Albans and its cells joined the crusade in Flanders in 1383, under Henry le Despenser, bishop of Norwich.

The buildings of the dorter and farm not repaired; brothers mixed with seculars in the south aisle of the church; they were not in cloister at customary hours; they 'did not exercise themselves in the study of letters' but were 'too fond of ease'.

Bishop Goldwell replaced the abbot and the final forty years of the monastery were apparently peaceful and well-ordered.

King Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries brought about the closure of Wymondham Abbey, which was surrendered to the Royal Commissioner John Flowerdew in 1538.

The parish part of the church (see above) was almost doubled in size in the 14th/15th centuries by enlarging of the north aisle to be wider than the nave.

In c.1450 the nave height was raised with new Perpendicular style clerestory windows and an exotic hammer-beam roof incorporating human-sized angels with outstretched wings.

[4] Repairs to the parish chancel were carried out following Queen Elizabeth I's visit to Norfolk in 1573 (date and initials may be seen on exterior stonework) and most of the Norman pillars were squared off 1584/5.

The splendid gilded reredos or altar screen with tester and rood figures above is one of the largest works of Sir Ninian Comper.

[4] Note also the 1712 Georgian candelabrum (now in the Lady Chapel) and Royal Arms of George II (south aisle), the carved octagonal 15th Century font with modern gilded font cover by Cecil Upcher, the Arts and Crafts Triptych by E P Warren and Robert Anning Bell in the Lady Chapel and many smaller features such as angels, musicians and figures carved on the roof timbers and corbels.

[10] In 2016, with financial support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and local donors, new extensions were built at the east end.

[4] Early items include deeds, wills, inventories, a royal market charter of 1460, wardens' accounts, the parish Bede Roll of 1524 and records of the town's medieval religious gilds.

Early records suggest that the parish had an organ in the late 1400s, and the church still has a guarantee for a new 'payre of orgons in ye quire' built by William Beton (or Bylton) of King's Lynn in 1523.

'The Organ' by David Baker (a former organist at the Abbey) is published by Shire Publications and contains a full description of the instrument, with many illustrations of its components.