The extensive renovation of Becket’s Chapel has been proceeding for some time. It’s worth recalling that, since its foundation as a chapel dedicated to the Archbishop of Canterbury St Thomas Becket, murdered in 1170, it has played a prominent part in the Wymondham story – not least as a grammar school.

After its chapel days and then before the Reformation as a meeting place for the Wattlefield or Middleton Guild, in 1561 it became Wymondham Free School and then Wymondham Grammar School.

However, in the 1800s the building had deteriorated and Priory House in Middleton Street took over in 1835 with nearby York House becoming a science laboratory. The chapel, which until the mid-1800s had been surrounded by other buildings, among them shops, the town's lock-up and stocks, together with the fire engine shed, was eventually restored in the 1870s and for a time served as a public hall until 1888 when it was again used by the Grammar School until the school's closure in 1903.

The Grammar School's badge, the fleur-de-lys, can still be seen over the chapel's doorway, as well as on the Middleton Street properties. Since the school's closure the chapel has served as a church hall, the public library and the Arts Centre, while it is hoped that once the current work is completed it will once again play an important role in the town, particularly perhaps in attracting tourism.