Martham / Marcham

Standing permission

Results: 16 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

B01: sacrament - extreme unction

Scene Description: on the east side of the basin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

angel - head - 8

Scene Description: much defaced

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 Instructions: Standing permission by Jonathan Plunkett

design element - architectural - arch or niche - trefoiled - 8

Scene Description: framing the eight figures around the base sides

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

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 basin - north and northeast side

Scene Description: Photo caption: "Seven sacrament font. Panels Extreme Unction and Baptism"

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission by Jonathan Plunkett

view of church exterior - southeast view

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

view of font and cover

Image Source: Peter Fairweather [www.churchmousewebsite.co.uk]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

INFORMATION

FontID: 00756MAR

Church/Chapel: Parish Church St. Mary the Virgin [Cathedral vicarage]

Church Patron Saints: St. Mary the Virgin

Church Location: Black Street, Martham, Norfolk, NR29 4PR, United Kingdom

Country Name: England

Location: Norfolk, East Anglia

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

Font Location in Church: Inside the church, at the W end of the nave

Date: ca. 1470?

Century and Period: 15th century (late?), Perpendicular

Workshop/Group/Artisan: Seven-Sacraments font

Cognate Fonts: Marsham, Gorleston.

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

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

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."

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 52.70801, 1.6322

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 52° 42′ 28.84″ N, 1° 37′ 55.92″ E

UTM: 31U 407591 5840667

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

Blomefield, Francis, An essay towards a topographical history of Norfolk, 1805-1810

Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908

Cautley, Henry Munro, Norfolk Churches, Ipswich: Norman Adlard & Co., 1949

Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907

Knott, Simon, The Norfolk Churches Site, Simon Knott, 2004. [standing permission to reproduce images received from Simon (February 2005]. Accessed: 2009-06-25 00:00:00. 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

Nichols, Ann Eljenholm, Seeable Signs: The Iconography of the Seven Sacraments 1350-1544, Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1994

Pevsner, Nikolaus, Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East [2nd ed.], Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1997