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# The stepped tower of St Mary's Church in Burgh St Peter and the crypt of Samuel Boycott
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/bashnia-tserkvi-sviatoi-marii-v-norfolkskoi-derevne-burg-sent-piter-ochen-napominaet-zikkurat/
- Published: 2023-06-13T09:28:14.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T19:09:30.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Architecture, Faith, Observations

The tower of St Mary's Church in the Norfolk village of Burgh St Peter looks remarkably like a ziggurat. Its stepped form, so uncharacteristic of Georgian Gothic, is in fact connected with funerary architecture.

The tower was completed in stages after a vault was built here in 1793 for one of the church's chief benefactors, the local lord and, in his spare time, vicar, Samuel Boycott.

If one looks closely, Anglican churches occasionally sport towers that faintly recall stepped ziggurats, but this church, perhaps, bears the greatest resemblance to the ancient Mesopotamian place of worship.

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_9134@13-06-2023_12-28-14.jpg)