Is it a well? An ice-house? A gunnery from the Second World War?

When Reverend Steve Deall, vicar at St Nicholas Church in Bradwell, was cutting back the overgrowth around the 700-year-old building's yard last month, he inadvertently uncovered what appeared to be the ruins of a horseshoe-shaped wall.

But what the structure was for, he doesn't know.

Eastern Daily Press: A horseshoe-shaped ruin found in the grounds of St Nocholas Church in Bradwell.A horseshoe-shaped ruin found in the grounds of St Nocholas Church in Bradwell. (Image: Steve Deall)

The vicar, who moved with his wife Sara to Norfolk last July, said: "Over the last nine months we've been cleaning up the church yard. And it was when I was clearing some stuff away, I found the start of a curving wall.

"We've had different suggestions from people as to what it could be. But I think without somebody coming from an archaeological trust, we're not going to find out.

"But it's been a brilliant talking-point," he added.

The reverend, who was a policeman for 25 years in Staffordshire, has enjoyed whetting his detective's nose again on the possible origins of the structure.

"I'm like a dog with a bone once we get an investigation started," he said.

Whether or not the case is closed, the plan for the enclosure is to eventually turn it into a fernery.

"This is part of a bigger plan, to try to get people to have a bit of pride in the church," said Revd Deall.

He hopes to introduce more wildlife into the grounds surrounding the church, the tower of which is more than one thousand years old.

"We're trying to get people into the church yard. We'd like people to come and have a look around," he said.