Martham / Marcham
Image copyright © Peter Fairweather, 2004
Standing permission
Results: 16 records
B01: sacrament - extreme unction
Scene Description: on the east side of the basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph April 2006 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/martham/martham.htm] [accessed 26 May 2014]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
B02: sacrament - baptism
Scene Description: on the northeast side of the basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph April 2006 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/martham/martham.htm] [accessed 26 May 2014]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
B03: sacrament - confirmation
Scene Description: on the north side of the basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph April 2006 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/martham/martham.htm] [accessed 26 May 2014]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
B04: sacrament - penance
Scene Description: on the northwest side of the basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph April 2006 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/martham/martham.htm] [accessed 26 May 2014]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
B05: sacrament - holy orders
Scene Description: on the west side of the basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph April 2006 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/martham/martham.htm] [accessed 26 May 2014]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
B06: New Testament - Apocalypse - Last Judgment
Scene Description: on the southwest side of the basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph April 2006 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/martham/martham.htm] [accessed 26 May 2014]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
B07: sacrament - marriage
Scene Description: on the south side of the basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph April 2006 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/martham/martham.htm] [accessed 26 May 2014]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
B08: sacrament - eucharist
Scene Description: on the southeast side of the basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph April 2006 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/martham/martham.htm] [accessed 26 May 2014]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of font and cover
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Peter Fairweather, 2004
Image Source: Peter Fairweather [www.churchmousewebsite.co.uk]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
angel - head - 8
Scene Description: much defaced
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © George Plunkett, 2014
Image Source: digital image of a B&W photograph taken 27 March 1948 by George Plunkett [www.georgeplunkett.co.uk/Norfolk/M/Martham St Mary's church font E and NE side [3684] 1948-03-27.jpg] [accessed 26 May 2014]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission by Jonathan Plunkett
view of basin - north and northeast side
Scene Description: Photo caption: "Seven sacrament font. Panels Extreme Unction and Baptism"
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © George Plunkett, 2014
Image Source: digital image of a B&W photograph taken 27 March 1948 by George Plunkett [www.georgeplunkett.co.uk/Norfolk/M/Martham St Mary's church font E and NE side [3684] 1948-03-27.jpg] [accessed 26 May 2014]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission by Jonathan Plunkett
design element - architectural - arch - Ogee - crocketed - 12
Scene Description: framing the eight scenes on the basin sides
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © George Plunkett, 2014
Image Source: digital image of a B&W photograph taken 27 March 1948 by George Plunkett [www.georgeplunkett.co.uk/Norfolk/M/Martham St Mary's church font E and NE side [3684] 1948-03-27.jpg] [accessed 26 May 2014]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission by Jonathan Plunkett
view of church exterior - southeast view
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © George Plunkett, 2014
Image Source: digital image of a B&W photograph taken 14 June 1989 by George Plunkett [www.georgeplunkett.co.uk/Norfolk/M/Martham St Mary's church from SE [6551] 1989-06-14.jpg] [accessed 26 May 2014]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission by Jonathan Plunkett
design element - architectural - arch or niche - trefoiled - 8
Scene Description: framing the eight figures around the base sides
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph April 2006 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/martham/martham.htm] [accessed 26 May 2014]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
Apostle or saint - saint - 8
Scene Description: on the buttressed panels of the stem
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph April 2006 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/martham/martham.htm] [accessed 26 May 2014]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
design element - architectural - buttress - 8
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph April 2006 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/martham/martham.htm] [accessed 26 May 2014]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
INFORMATION
Font ID: 00756MAR
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Date: ca. 1470?
Font Century and Period/Style: 15th century (late?), Perpendicular
Workshop/Group/Artisan: Seven-Sacraments font
Cognate Fonts: Marsham, Gorleston.
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church St. Mary the Virgin [Cathedral vicarage]
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, at the W end of the nave
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Mary the Virgin
Church Address: Black Street, Martham, Norfolk, NR29 4PR, United Kingdom
Site Location: Norfolk, East Anglia, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located off the B1152, just W of Winterton-on-Sea, 30-35 km ENE of Norwich
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Norwich
Historical Region: Hundred of West Flegg
Additional Comments: damaged font (the present one: underwent much defacing of scenes and images) - disappeared font? (the one from the Domesday-time church[es?] here)
Font Notes:
Click to view
There are seven entries for Martham [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TG4518/martham/] [accessed 26 May 2014], two of which report a church and churchlands in each. Blomefield (1805-1810) appears to identify only one church in Martham at the time of the survey, "a church endowed with 50 acres [...] The Church is dedicated to St. Mary, and was a rectory [...] given by Roger de Gunton with all its appurtenances, with the consent of Nicholas his son and heir, in the presence of William Bishop of Norwich for the redemption of his soul, to the prior and convent of Norwich. [...] and this was about the year 1160, and was confirmed by the aforesaid Bishop. [...] On the dissolution of the priory, the patronage of the church came to the Crown, with the appropriated rectory, and were granted to the dean and chapter of Norwich, on Nov. 9, in the first of Edward VI. and so remains. [...] The church has a nave, a north and south isle, and a chancel." Lewis' Dictionary of 1848 reports a "richly sculptured" font in this church. Noted in James (1930): "Seven Sacraments font with Christ as Judge in the eighth panel. Noted in Cautley (1949). Studied in detail in Nichols (1994) who gives Marsham and Gorleston as cognate fonts; the font has suffered much damage to the panels, chamfer angels and pedestal statues; paint and wash remains still on it; order of the scenes on the basin given in Nichols as [R->L]: 1)Baptism; 2)Extreme Unction; 3)Eucharist; 4)Marriage; 5)Last Judgment; 6)Holy Orders; 7)Penance; 8)Confirmation. Described in Pevsner & Wilson (1997). The font consists of an octagonal basin with vertical sides, each decorated with a sacramental scene (a/p Nichols above); a cherub appears on each angle of the chamfer; raised on an octagonal pedestal, slightly wider at the bottom, decorated with very worn statues on the panels. Wooden font cover, octagonal and flat, appears modern. Raised on a plain octagonal plinth. Described and fully illustrated in Knott (2006): "in relatively good condition, with crowded scenes set beneath cusped arches which retain their original colour. The carving is not delicate, but rather earthy. The most easterly panel is the Last Rites, the figure in the bed wrapped up somewhat like a mummy. You can see the chrismatory box in the hands of the acolyte at his feet. Then, in anticlockwise order, come Baptism (NE), the infant being dunked in the water; Confirmation (N) including a babe in arms; Confession (NW), perhaps the most interesting panel, the action taking place in a chapel withe the devil sneaking out through the door; Ordination (W), the ordinand kneeling; The Last Judgement (SW), which is the odd panel out; Matrimony (S), a very clear panel, the woman wearing a kennel headdress, and finally Mass (SE), the Priest with his back to us, the altar beyond with riddle posts. Eight Saints stand in niches around the pillar. The most obvious is St Andrew with his saltire cross. I suspect that at some point the font has been turned one place anti-clockwise and reset, probably during the Restoration, because I think that Baptism may have faced east and the Last Judgement west."
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Peter Fairweather, of www.churchmousewebsite.co.uk, and to Simon Knott, of Norfolk Churches [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk] for their photographs of this font; we are also grateful to Jonathan Plunkett for the photographs of this church and font taken by his father, George Plunkett, in 1948 and 1989
COORDINATES
UTM: 31U 407591 5840667
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 52.70801, 1.6322
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 52° 42′ 28.84″ N, 1° 37′ 55.92″ E
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, type unknown
Font Shape: octagonal, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal
LID INFORMATION
Date: modern
Material: wood
Apparatus: no
REFERENCES
- Anderson, M.D., The Imagery of British churches, London: John Murray, 1955, p. 200 fn3
- Blomefield, Francis, An essay towards a topographical history of Norfolk, 1805-1810, vol. 11: 168-173 / [www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=78776] [accessed 26 May 2014]
- Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 259
- Cautley, Henry Munro, Norfolk Churches, Ipswich: Norman Adlard & Co., 1949, p. 23
- Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 168
- Knott, Simon, The Norfolk Churches Site, Simon Knott, 2004. [standing permission to reproduce images received from Simon (February 2005]. URL: www.norfolkchurches.co.uk.
- Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England, Comprising the Several Counties, Cities, Boroughs, Corporate and Market Towns, Parishes, Chapelries, and Townships, and the Islands of Guernsy, Jersey, and Man, with Historical and Statistical Descriptions [...], London: S. Lewis, 1831, [www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=51137] [accessed 19 Febryary 2007]
- Nichols, Ann Eljenholm, Seeable Signs: The Iconography of the Seven Sacraments 1350-1544, Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1994, p. 76, 80, 106, 107, 111, 113n, 114, 115, 125, 225, 240-241, 312-313, 316n, 319-320, 332, 337, 341-342, 344
- Pevsner, Nikolaus, Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East [2nd ed.], Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1997, p. 608