Palgrave / Palegrava

The entry for this Palgrave [variant spelling] [there is another Palgrave in Norfolk] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/TM1178/palgrave/] [accessed 24 December 2017] reports "2 churches" and "0.25 church lands" in it. The font here is described and illustrated in Paley (1844) and Bond (1908). Parker (1855) describes it as "a very fine font" dated by its mouldings to the Transitional style. Listed in Cautley (1982) as a baptismal font of the 12th century, though he notes that "the detached angle shafts appear to be 13th century." The CRSBI (2017) entry for this church notes: "The only 12thc. sculpture is on the elaborately carved font [...] Paley dated the Palgrave fontc.1180. Bond (1908) dated the bowl to the close of the 12thc. and the supports toc.1300, at which period, he thought, the corner masks were also carved. He related the fonts of Palgrave and Preston (both Suffolk), and Hunstanton (Norfolk) to the celebrated NW Norfolk group, including Shernborne, Toftrees, Sculthorpe and S Wootton. A formal connection certainly exists, although the Palgrave group is less plastic in its carving and relies more on geometrical decoration. Pevsner calls the font late Norman, and a S-Western rather than an East Anglian type, presumably thinking of fonts of the Bodmin type. Mortlock follows Pevsner on this point, but Bond's Norfolk connection is more convincing to the present author" [Ron Baxter?]. On-site notes (July 1998): A composite font: the square basin is said to be late Norman, though the upper rim was shaved off at a later date, perhaps the time when the re-carving was done; the angles of the basin corners are trimmed at the upper two-thirds, and contain a human head in each, all wearing head covering (each a different type); under the heads scalloped capitals top the detached shafts; a larger octagonal pedestal at the centre; both pedestal and shafts are of a later date than the basin; the sides of the basin are ornamented with a large medallion on each side containing a Greek cross with fleurisé arms; the bottom of the basin also has a scalloped motif; the base is the usual columnar arrangement of one broad shaft in the centre and four -in this case, detached- slender colonnettes at the corners, and appears to be of a later date than the basin; the basin well is lined with lead and has a central drainage hole. There is evidence of an earlier lid on the remains of a hinge in the rim.