Burnham Deepdale / Bruneham / Burnham Deepden / Burnham Depedale / Depeden

There is no mention of church or priest in the Domesday entry for "Bruneham". The font here is described with an illustration "by a young gentleman" in Pegge (1792) as: "a most curious and singular antient laver [...]; the sculpture of the figures is so mean and rude as unquestionably to bespeak of very remote amtiquity; but whether the performance can be thought to rise higher than the Norman area may, perhaps, be justly doubted"; Pegge follows with a detailed description of each of the scenes by a Mr. Crowe [cf. infra], with some additional comments of his own. In his entry for this parish Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "The Church is dedicated to St. Mary, and is a rectory [...] The church has a nave, a north isle, and a chancel covered with lead [...] Here is an old font, standing on five pillasters, a round tower, with one bell". Blomefield (ibid.) further notes: "There was a controversy between William, abbot of Ramsey, and Godfrey the priest, concerning this church, terminated by Gilbert Foliot Bishop of London, in the reign of Henry II." [NB: Foliot became bishop of London in 1163. Henry II's reign dates are 1154-1189]. The font is noted in Poole (1842), with reference to "Archaeologia, x, 189". Pugin (1843) writes of the "different labours of the husbandman" as a symbolic representation of "the processess of the vineyard, by which the good works of Christians were symbolized in Italy and other vine countries". Livett (1905) refers to Pegge [supra] and adds: "The Rev. Henry Crowe, 'the worthy and sagacious rector of Burnham', in 1799, describes the MAY labour of the Deepdale font in the following terms: 'A female figure with long hair, having a banner in her hand. Before her a tree in full foliage, an emblem of the month.' And he [Crowe] adds, 'May it not allude to the perambulation?' [...]" Described and illustrated in Bond (1908). Square bowl with arcade motif on the sides in which the scenes of the months are represented: January shows a man carousing; February, a man warming himself; March, a man digging; April, a man pruning a plant; May, a woman carrying a flag in the processions at Rogation Tide; June, weeding; July, a man mowing; August, a man binding a sheaf; September, a man threshing; October, a man barrelling wine; November, pigsticking; December, four people sit a table for Christmas dinner; a wide band between the rim and the scenes depicts felines, some with their tails intertwined. As the web site for the Saxonshore benefice points out, "the months run anticlockwise so that one walks around it with the sun and not against it which be 'widdershins', against nature, the devil would be waiting!". This same source informs that "The font was damaged when moved from the North aisle of the church at Burnham Deepdale in 1797 and was taken to Fincham for repair [...] It stayed there in the garden of the Rectory for forty years before it was finally restored and placed in its present position. The font is made of Barnack stone from Rutland". [source: www.saxonshorebenefice.fsnet.co.uk]. [NB: Guilford (1927), among others, notes a set of stones with the months of the year topic at Calverton St. Wilfrid's, in Nottinghamshire]. Described in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as "remarkable". The 'labours of the months' program on this font is studied and catalogued in detail in Webster (1970 c1938), who points out that Liwett [i.e., Livett (1905)] errs in stating that the names of the months are repeated as on the Brookland font. Webster (ibid.) dates the Burnham Deepdale font to the 11th century. Listed and illustrated in Cautley (1949) who describes it as "probably the most interesting font in England". Pevsner & Wilson (1999) date the basin to the early-12th century and the "piers under the bowl are C19". Described and illustrated in Kroesen & Steensma (2004). Illustrated in Simon Knott's Norfolk Churches (2005, 2006) with some interesting notes: "It is interesting that four of the panels, January, February, November and December, show leisure activities. The subject of November's panel is, perhaps, a curious one to find on a Norfolk font; if this had been Lincolnshire, of course, we wouldn't be surprised at all. I did wonder if perhaps an alternative interpretation, that this shows a pig being slaughtered, might be possible. However, will evidence seems to support the notion that pig-shagging was a popular activity even outside of the Fens in medieval times; a 1480 will in neighbouring Brancaster leaves one marke for a candle to burne before Our Ladyes rowelle for ever and a carucate of land in the manor of Staithe for the layeing out of ground for the shagging of hogges, which, excitingly, suggests that pig-shagging was not the solitary activity we might imagine, but corporate, celebratory, and possibly even competitive (see postscript) [cf. infra]. That the font has survived in such good condition is fortunate. During the late 18th century, at the time of the first great restoration, it was moved out of an aisle which was to be demolished. In being moved, it was dropped, and broken into several pieces. The bits were discarded, ending up in a rockery at Fincham, thirty miles away. An elegantly classical birdbath font took its place; you can see it today in the sanctuary at nearby Titchwell. It was only when the aisles were rebuilt some seventy years later at the time of a renewed fascination with anything medieval that the pieces were returned here, stuck back together, and the font given its current home at the west end of the south aisle. It was mended very well - you can just make out that the lower part of the October panel is a modern restoration [...] Postscript, March 2006: having received a number of e-mails on the subject of the November panel of the font, I decided to seek an expert opinion. Joseph Orton, Professor of Medieval History at the University of Leicester, and author of Real Men of Norfolk: Male-Bonding and the Construction of Patriarchy in Late Medieval Agricultural Practices, writes: 'Pig-shagging is best understood as a lost art, once vital to a rural medieval economy, but now no longer recognised or practiced. It concerned the close relationship of a peasant with his pig that ultimately enabled the pig to be used to seek out and notify the existence of hidden or buried objects, usually food. Today, we associate this skill with the truffle-hunters of the Dordogne, but in a medieval English winter such an animal might extend the household food stores by detecting unharvested roots and tubers. It was effectively the domestication of a pig to carry out a household role. The training of a pig in this way, as well as the performance of its duties, was a social occasion, and seems to have been regarded as a spectacle in contemporary accounts, but this may simply reflect the paucity of the other early-winter entertainments available to late-Medieval man. Interestingly, from the same Anglo-Germanic roots, the word Schag has come down to us in Afrikaans, referring to a South African halter, or bridle, used to tame Zebra on the veldt'." On-site notes: the basin is mounted on one central column (original) and four later-date columns at each corner form the base; on the western side of the basin there is a blind arcade; on the north side (moving from right to left) there are four months of the year: January, February, March, April; on the eastern side the months continue with May, June, July, August; on the southern side are scenes depicting September, October, November and, lastly, December, all sitting down for the big feast! The inner well of the basin is lead lined and there is a central drain; the months not labelled but February, with a hooded man warming his feet by the fire, has several capital letters crudely incised on it, the F, E, B and A are clearly discernible, and they appear to spell the name of the month; a few other panels have also been incised with letters, unfortunately less successfully; all these incisions are believed to have been added at a later date.