Stalham No. 1

Standing permission by Jonathan Plunkett

Results: 25 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

B01: God - God the Father - in majesty - crowned - angels at the sides - holding Christ crucified - Trinity?

Image Source: [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/stalham/stalham.htm]

Copyright Instructions: Permission received (email of 16 February 2005)

B02: New Testament - public life of Christ - baptism of Christ - in the Jordan - angel present

Scene Description: on one of the panels of the basin

Image Source: [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/stalham/stalham.htm]

Copyright Instructions: Permission received (email of 16 February 2005)

B03: Apostle or saint?

Scene Description: in pairs, on several of the basin panels

Image Source: [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/stalham/stalham.htm]

Copyright Instructions: Permission received (email of 16 February 2005)

BU01: design element - patterns - reticular

Scene Description: reticular pattern dotted with a Tudor rose at each junction

Image Source: [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/stalham/stalham.htm]

Copyright Instructions: Permission received (email of 16 February 2005)

BU02: design element - motifs - floral - Tudor rose

Scene Description: reticular pattern dotted with a Tudor rose at each junction

Image Source: [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/stalham/stalham.htm]

Copyright Instructions: Permission received (email of 16 February 2005)

LB01: design element - architectural - buttress - 8

Scene Description: at the arrises of the pedestal of the base

Image Source: [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/stalham/stalham.htm]

Copyright Instructions: Permission received (email of 16 February 2005)

LB02: design element - motifs - garland

Scene Description: all around the lower base

Image Source: [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/stalham/stalham.htm]

Copyright Instructions: Permission received (email of 16 February 2005)

LB03: angel - cherub - 8

Scene Description: a little cherub appears above each of the figures of the stem

Image Source: [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/stalham/stalham.htm]

Copyright Instructions: Permission received (email of 16 February 2005)

LBF01: human figure - standing - 8 - in a niche - Apostles or saints?

Scene Description: [cf. Font notes for suggested identification of Madonna and Child, St, Catherine, St. Olaf and St. Edmund] each in an individual niche, raised on a stool or platform

Image Source: [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/stalham/stalham.htm]

Copyright Instructions: Permission received (email of 16 February 2005)

design element - motifs - quatrefoil

Scene Description: five of them on each side of the second plinth

Image Source: Bond (1908)

Copyright Instructions: PD

symbol - shield - blank

Scene Description: two on each panel of the upper step of the plinth, with two Catharine wheels between them

Image Source: Bond (1908)

Copyright Instructions: PD

symbol - wheel - Catharine wheel

Scene Description: two on each panel of the upper step of the plinth, between two shield motifs

Image Source: Bond (1908)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of basin

Scene Description: panels 3-4-5 -- The Trinity scene on the right panel

Image Source: [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/stalham/stalham.htm]

Copyright Instructions: Permission received (email of 16 February 2005)

view of basin

Scene Description: panels 6-7-8

Image Source: [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/stalham/stalham.htm]

Copyright Instructions: Permission received (email of 16 February 2005)

view of basin

Scene Description: panels 1-2-3 -- the Baptism of Christ on the left panel

Image Source: [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/stalham/stalham.htm]

Copyright Instructions: Permission received (email of 16 February 2005)

view of basin

Scene Description: panels 5-6-7 -- The Trinity panel on the left

Image Source: [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/stalham/stalham.htm]

Copyright Instructions: Permission received (email of 16 February 2005)

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: panel of the Baptism of Christ

Image Source: Bond (1908)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: panel of the Trinity and two adjacent

Image Source: Bond (1908)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: Baptism of Christ scene

Image Source: engraving by G.E. Chambers in James (1930)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of church exterior

Image Source: [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/stalham/stalham.htm]

Copyright Instructions: Permission received (email of 16 February 2005)

view of church exterior - south view

Scene Description: Photo caption: "The tower is late 14c and is reduced in height"

Image Source: B&W photograph taken in 23 May 1993 by George Plunkett [www.georgeplunkett.co.uk/Norfolk/S/Stalham St Mary's church south side [6986] 1993-05-23.jpg] [accessed 16 January 2014]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission by Jonathan Plunkett

view of font

Image Source: Cautley (1949: 131)

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission received from the publisher

view of font - east side

Image Source: detail of a B&W photograph taken in 26 March 1948 by George Plunkett [www.georgeplunkett.co.uk/Norfolk/S/Stalham St Mary's church 15c font east side [3682] 1948-03-26.jpg] [accessed 16 January 2014]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission by Jonathan Plunkett

view of font in context

Scene Description: church interior looking west

Image Source: [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/stalham/stalham.htm]

Copyright Instructions: Permission received (email of 16 February 2005)

view of font in context - east side

Image Source: B&W photograph taken in 26 March 1948 by George Plunkett [www.georgeplunkett.co.uk/Norfolk/S/Stalham St Mary's church 15c font east side [3682] 1948-03-26.jpg] [accessed 16 January 2014]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission by Jonathan Plunkett

INFORMATION

FontID: 01561STA

Church/Chapel: Paris Church of St. Mary

Church Patron Saints: St. Mary the Virgin

Church Location: High Street, Stalham, Norfolk, NR12 9AU

Country Name: England

Location: Norfolk, East Anglia

Directions to Site: Located in the NE area of the county, about 22 km ENE of Norwich (up the A1151 to the crossing with the A149, then an immediate left after it)

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Norwich

Historical Region: Hundred of Happing

Font Location in Church: Inside the church, W end, S side, opposite the S door

Century and Period: 15th century (late?) [restored in 1864], Perpendicular [altered?]

Cognate Fonts: Similar in general design to the fonts at Norwich St. James' and St. Benedict's

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Simon Knott, of Norfolk Churches [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk] for his photographs of this church and font; we are also grateful to Jonathan Plunkett for the photographs of this church taken by his father, George Plunkett, in 1948 and 1993

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

There are six entries for Stalham in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TG3725/stalham/] [accessed 16 January 2014] including one for the manor of Sutton, with three churches in it. Blomefield (1805-1810) mentions no pre-1086 churches here, and the first direct references to a church here are, one on a dispute related to the advowson "In the 34th of Henry III" [i.e., 1250], and another with tha naming of "Mr. Peter de Acres occurs rector in 1247". Blmefield (ibid.) notes: "The church is dedicated to St. Mary, and was a rectory, in the patronage of the abbot of Holm", but the relationship between the rector and the abbot appears to have been awkward, to say the least, as the rector "complained, That whereas he had been rector of this church for 20 years; and received the profits, the abbot and convent of Holm feigning him to be dead [...] On this the abbot was summoned to appear personally at Rome, to make answer", events that appear to have taken place ca. 1290. This rectory became a vicarage since "1352, Robert Burewode to the vicarage: the rectory was appropriated to Trinity Hall, on November 10, this year". Lewis' Dictionary of 1848 reports: "the font is elborately sculptured". Described in Cox-Harvey (1907) as a noteworthy example of a baptismal font of the Perpendicular style [NB: Cox-Harvey have it listed under Lancashire]. Described and illustrated in Bond (1908) as an octagonal mounted baptismal font of the 15th century. Described and illustrated in James (1930): "The font [...] has figures of the Apostles and of the Trinity and the Baptism of Christ on the bowl, and of sainted kings round the base, with the Virgin and Child; here again we can see St. Olaf and St. Edmund. Another has a covered cup, and another s taff stuck through a wreath." The octagonal basin has rectangular panels with figures that occupy the whole space; the panels are separated by rounded shafts; some of the panels have pairs of figures; one of the panels has a portrayal of the Trinity (?) with a crowned figure (God the Father) enthroned with a Crucifixion figure overimposed and winged figures (angels) in the top corners; another panel has a scene of the baptism of Christ by John the Baptist with the dove (Holy Ghost) and an angel present at the top left corner. Reticular pattern connects basin and pedestal at the underbowl, dotted with Tudor roses at the junctions; the octagonal pedestal has figures standing [some identified in James (1930) above] on stools and framed in a their niches; the lower base has a garland all around; the steps of the plinth have ornamental motifs of Catharine-wheels and shields on the upper step; the second step has five quatre-foil motifs on each side. Bond (ibid.) suggests that the Catharine wheels may be indicative of a possible older dedication of this church to St. Catharine, abandoned for the current one to St. Mary; adding to his suggestion, Bond (ibid.) informs that "the fact that there is a public house [i.e., "pub" or tavern] in the village called the "Catharine Wheel" also indicates that if Stalham Church was not dedicated to St Catharine, there was in it an important altar or light in her honour". [NB: Cockford's Clerical Directory indicates simply the dedication to St. Mary]. Listed and illustrated in Cautley (1949), with date in the late 14th century. Pevsner & Wilson (1997) date it to the late 15th century and inform that it was restored in 1864. This font is illustrated in detail in Knott (2004). [cf. Index entry for Stalham No. 2 for a holy-water stoup also in this church]

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 52.771311, 1.516456

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 52° 46′ 16.72″ N, 1° 30′ 59.24″ E

UTM: 31U 399917 5847863

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

Notes: wooden cover; flat and plain

REFERENCES

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

Friar, Stephen, The Sutton Companion to Churches, Thrupp, Stroud (Gloucs.): Sutton Publishing, 2003

James, M. R., Suffolk and Norfolk, London, Toronto: Dent & Sons, 1930

Knott, Simon, The Norfolk Churches Site, Simon Knott, 2004. [standing permission to reproduce images received from Simon (February 2005]. Accessed: 2005-02-28 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

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