In 1862 the Reverend Archdall Buttermer purchased a site for a church and parsonage in the hamlet of Norney. The site was chosen as being equidistant from the villages of Shackleford, Eashing and Hurtmore. The church, designed by George Gilbert Scott, was consecrated in 1865 and dedicated to St Mary.
The accuracy of the location, being on one of the ten degree rays, is extraordinary but there seems no evidence that the positioning can be anything but coincidental. Clutching at straws – Scott, as a famous architect, would almost certainly have been a freemason. Was there a secret knowledge of alignments? As I said – clutching at straws!
