Pyecombe / Piccumbe / Picumba / Piecombe / Pingeden / Pycombe / Pykecombe

No entry found for Pyecombe in the Domesday survey. Baptismal font noted in Hussey (1852) without mentioning the material it is made of: "The font is round, upon a modern stem, with carving in very slight relief. It is curious, and may be of Norm[an] date, or even earlier." Listed in Cox (1875). Studied in Andre (1882), who describes it, together with the font at Edburton, "of late Norman date", although he notes that "in the handbook of English Ecclesiology (p. 130)" it is assigned a post-Reformation date [NB: Andre lists two 'Piecombe' lead fonts: one in Sussex and another such in Somersetshire -- it must have been a printing error]. Noted in Lethaby (1893) as Early English. The University of Kent, Library Services, Special Collections [www.kent.ac.uk/library/specialcollections/all/r.php/23023/show.html] [accessed 14 November 2012] has a "Black and white negative of the interior of the "Church of the Transfiguration" in Pyecombe, Sussex taken on 19th June 1906" [ref. UKC-CHR-MUG-BW.F213377 -- Accession number: F213377], taken by William Burrell Muggeridge on 19 June 1906, now in the Muggeridge Collections, University of Kent at Canterbury. The font is shown in the centre of the aisle, topped by its cover and mounted on a round pedestal made of stone. Noted in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a lead baptismal font with ornamentation of "the close of the Norman style", like the one at Edburton [cf. Index entry]. Described and illustrated in Bond (1908) as a cylindrical lead font: "the method employed in making these fonts was probably to cast them flat, afterwards bend them into the required circular form, and then solder them up. The edges which have been so joined are clearly seen at Edburton and Pyecombe, Sussex". Harrison (1920) writes: "The most interesting detail in this little church is the fine old leaden font (c. 1 1 70), there being only two others in the county, at Edburton and Parham". The Victoria County History (Sussex, vol. 7, 1940) notes: "The church of 'Pingeden' was granted to the Priory of St. Pancras at Lewes by Adam de Poynings and his wife Beatrice, and this grant was confirmed by successive Earls Warenne in about 1095 and 1140. [...] The whole [present] building is covered with rough-cast, and the stone-work of the windows is all modern. It is thus difficult to date the portions of the church with certainty, but from internal evidence it would appear that nave and chancel are 12th century and the western tower 13th century. [...] The font has a lead bowl, of late-12th-century date, with elaborate patterning of scroll-work. The base is modern." Illustrated in Needham (1944). Described and illustrated in Zarnecki (1957) as an example, together with the font at Ashover, of "the decline in the quality of lead fonts in the late twelfth century". Described and illustrated in Whiteman (1994). On-site notes: this cylindrical lead font has an edged upper rim; the upper register on the basin side, below the rim, has a pattern of vegetal ornamentation; the lower half of the basin side is covered in an arcade of round arches with vegetal ornamentation in them. There is a modern stone cylindrical base and a wooden Jacobean-style font cover.