Shernborne / Scarneborne / Scernebruna / Scernebrune / Scernebuna / Serlebruna / Sharnborn / Sharnborne / Shernbourn / Shernburn

There are five entries for Shernborne [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TF7132/shernborne/] [accessed 8 Aril 2014], none of which mention a church or cleric in it. Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "Sir Henry Spelman, and the rest of our historians, relate that one Thoke was lord of this town when Fœlix, the Bishop of the EastAngles, came into this part of his diocese, in King Sigebert's time, about the year 640, to convert it to Christianity; and being one of his converts, built a church here dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, the second that was erected in the Kingdom of the East-Angles". This legendary origin of the church here is argued against in Blomefield's description of the church building: "The Church is an antique pile, dedicated to St. Peter, but not built by Fælix, the Bishop, as the Sherborn MS. represents, by fabulous tradition; [...] has a body, with a south isle covered with lead, never had any tower, and the chancel has been long in ruins." Blomefield (ibid.) further adds: "In the reign of King John [i.e., 1199-1216], Nicholas de Sharnborn was lord, and gave the church to the priory of Pentney. [...] The rectory was appropriated to the priory of Pentney, and the presentation to the vicarage was in that house." We have therefore a legendary foundation of a church here in the mid-7th century, but no mention of a church in this place in the Domesday survey of 1086; a church, however, existed ca. 1200 [cf. supra] and may have been around for some time as a rectory before it was passed on to Pentney Priory and became a vicarage. The preeent font here is described, with an engraving by J. Basire, in Gough (1792). Noted in White's Directory of 1845 as "a singular antique font". Described and illustrated in Bond (1908) as a Norman baptismal font with a square basin mounted on four non-constructional shafts; the basin bears beautiful, original, complex and profuse interlacing and braiding in the Norman style; the head of an animal (wolf?) appears at the bottom of one of the sides (all four sides have these animal heads). Listed and illustrated in Claham (1934). Kendrick (1938) notes "that heavy interlace and acanthus ornament apparently related to that on the Saffron Walden disc occurs on the following century on the sides of the magnificent fonts at Shernborne and Toftrees in Norfolk." [NB: the reference is to metal work of Saxon and Danish traditoin present in England in the 11th century]. Listed and illustrated in Cautley (1949). Pevsner & Wilson (1999) describe it as "A barbaric but mighty Norman piece […] not an inch of uncarved stone". On-site notes: in good condition; the basin well is lined with lead and has a central drainage hole. The font, columns and low plinth stand on a wider second plinth. This font shows one of the strongest staments of "Norman" art among baptismal fonts in England.