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

CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

Results: 32 records

Click to view images

view of font

Image Source: BSI - Photographed June 1999

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

view of font

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2026 by Timothy Birt

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font - south side

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2026 by Timothy Birt

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font - east side

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2026 by Timothy Birt

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font - west side

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2026 by Timothy Birt

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font - north side

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2026 by Timothy Birt

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font

Image Source: engraving in Archaeologia (vol. X, pl. XXIII)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of font

Image Source: Cautley (1949: 130)

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission received from the publisher

view of basin

Image Source: BSI - Photographed June 1999

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

view of basin - east side

Image Source: BSI - Photographed June 1999

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

design element - patterns - interlace

Scene Description: several patterns

Image Source: BSI - Photographed June 1999

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

animal - mammal - wolf? - head

Scene Description: four heads, one on each side, on the lower edge; one of them appears to be a wolf

Image Source: BSI - Photographed June 1999

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

view of basin - detail

a hole made in the exterior of one of the basin sides; it would not be part of the original drainage of the font -- was it made when the font was re-purposed as a planter or similar use? [cf. FontNotes]

Scene Description: a hole made in the exterior of one of the basin sides; it would not be part of the original drainage of the font -- was it made when the font was re-purposed as a planter or similar use? [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2026 by Timothy Birt

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of basin - interior - detail

Scene Description: showing the lead lining and the drain hole

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2026 by Timothy Birt

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of basin - upper view

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2026 by Timothy Birt

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of basin - detail

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2026 by Timothy Birt

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - patterns - braid - 2-strand - ball or bead insert

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2026 by Timothy Birt

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

animal - mammal - head

Scene Description: like the other three, framed by a 2-strand braid

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2026 by Timothy Birt

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of basin - south side - detail

interlace below the upper rim; 3-strand vine with leaves and fruit; dogtooth vertical bands on the sides; 2-strand braid frames the animal head below

Scene Description: interlace below the upper rim; 3-strand vine with leaves and fruit; dogtooth vertical bands on the sides; 2-strand braid frames the animal head below

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2026 by Timothy Birt

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

animal - mammal - head

Scene Description: with a 2-strand braid framing it

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2026 by Timothy Birt

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of basin - west side - detail

Scene Description: this side may contain a scene involving two human figures surrounded by foliage, etc.

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2026 by Timothy Birt

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of basin - north side - detail

Scene Description: large interlace pattern above; animal head below

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2026 by Timothy Birt

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church exterior

Image Source: BSI - Photographed June 1999

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

view of church exterior - southeast view

Scene Description: Photo caption: "Excessively restored. Original bases of Early English arcade piers"

Image Source: B&W photograph taken 16 June 1996 by George Plunkett [www.georgeplunkett.co.uk/Norfolk/S/Shernborne Ss Peter and Paul church from SE [7334] 1996-06-16.jpg] [accessed 8 April 2014]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission by Jonathan Plunkett

view of church interior - nave - looking west

Scene Description: the font is partially visible at the far [west] end, right [north] side

Image Source: digital photograph taken 27 June 2010 by Evelyn Simak [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1937475] [accessed 8 April 2014]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of church interior - nave - looking east

Image Source: digital photograph taken 27 June 2010 by Evelyn Simak [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1937457] [accessed 8 April 2014]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

design element - architectural - column - patterned - 4

Scene Description: one at each corner of the basin

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2026 by Timothy Birt

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of basin - south side - detail

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2026 by Timothy Birt

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - motifs - braid

Scene Description: a semicircular one; around each of the heads on the lower side of the basin

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2026 by Timothy Birt

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of basin - east side - detail

notice the pattern below the upper rim, and the damage showing the hole left from the font cover anchoring now gone -- vertical braided strips on the side of the complex 2-strand interlace

Scene Description: notice the pattern below the upper rim, and the damage showing the hole left from the font cover anchoring now gone -- vertical braided strips on the side of the complex 2-strand interlace

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2026 by Timothy Birt

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - motifs - foliage

Scene Description: in several shapes, all around the upper rim sides

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2026 by Timothy Birt

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

human figure

on the damaged north side, two figures, at diagonal ends, upper left and lower right; only the one on the lower right is now intact, right arm raised... The CRSBI appears to identify it with The Fall, Adam with the apple [cf. FontNotes]

Scene Description: on the damaged north side, two figures, at diagonal ends, upper left and lower right; only the one on the lower right is now intact, right arm raised... The CRSBI appears to identify it with The Fall, Adam with the apple [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 March 2026 by Timothy Birt

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

INFORMATION

Font ID: 01650SHE

Object Type: Baptismal Font1

Date Visited: 1998-07-24

Font Century and Period/Style: 12th century, Late Norman

Cognate Fonts: the font at Toftrees [cf. FontNotes]

Church / Chapel Name: Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul

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

Church Patron Saint(s): St. Peter & St. Paul

Church Notes: present church 1898

Church Address: Shernborne, King's Lynn PE31 6ES, United Kingdom -- Tel.: +44 1485 297293

Site Location: Norfolk, East Anglia, England, United Kingdom

Directions to Site: Located about 20 km NNE of King's Lynn, 4 km ENE of Sandringham

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Norwich

Historical Region: Hundred of Smethdon [formerly in the Hundred of Docking]

Additional Comments: Square limestone bowl with four stout columns supporting it on a low plinth. Geometric motifs, animal heads and ornate braiding decorates the four sides of the bowl.

Font Notes: Click to view

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. Fully listed and illustrated in the CRSBI [https://www.crsbi.ac.uk/view-item?i=4668] [accessed 14 March 2025] with measurements, and it notes that on the west side "are two bust-length human figures amid a tangle of coiling three-strand stems and foliage. The figure on the right plucks fruit with its raised right hand from the mouth of a serpent. On the left, another figure (Adam?) grasps the stem before him with both finely carved hands", suggesting thereby a representation of the Temptation and Fall. Noted and illustrated in Norfolk Churches [http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/shernborne/shernborne.htm] [accessed 14 March 2026]

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Jonathan Plunkett for the photograph of this church taken by his father, George Plunkett, in June 1996. We are also grateful to Timothy Birt for his photographs of this font

COORDINATES

UTM: 31U 334696 5859741

Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 52.861976, 0.544449

Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 52° 51′ 43.12″ N, 0° 32′ 40.01″ E

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, limestone

Font Shape: square, mounted

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: square

Drainage System: centre hole in basin & base

Drainage Notes: lead-lined

Rim Thickness: 6-15 cm*

Diameter (inside rim): 54-55 cm*

Diameter (includes rim): 62 cm**

Basin Depth: 30 cm*

Height of Basin Side: 50 cm*

Basin Total Height: 50 cm* / **

Height of Base: 45 cm* [includes lower base]

Font Height (less Plinth): 95 cm* [includes lower base] / 94 cm**

Square Base Dimensions: 62 x 64 cm*

Trapezoidal Basin: 61 x 61 cm*

Notes on Measurements: * BSI on-site / ** CRSBI

REFERENCES

Blomefield, Francis, An essay towards a topographical history of Norfolk, 1805-1810, vol. 10: 350-361 / [www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=78692] [accessed 8 April 2014]
Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 46, 151, 153, 155, 183, 191 and ill. on p. opposite t.p.
Cautley, Henry Munro, Norfolk Churches, Ipswich: Norman Adlard & Co., 1949, p. 20 and ill. on p. 130
Clapham, Alfred William, English Romanesque Architecture after the Conquest, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1934, p. 155
Collins, Arthur H., Symbolism of animals and birds represented in English church architecture, New York: McBride, Nast & Co., 1913, p. 113
Friar, Stephen, The Sutton Companion to Churches, Thrupp, Stroud (Gloucs.): Sutton Publishing, 2003, p. 202
Gough, Richard, "Description of the old font in the Church of East Meon, Hampshire, 1789: with some observations on fonts", X, Archaeologia, 1792, pp. 183-209; p. 186 and pl. XXIII
Kendrick, T.D., Anglo-Saxon Art to A.D. 900, London: Methuen & Co., 1938, p. 38
Pevsner, Nikolaus, Norfolk 2: North-West and South (2nd ed.), London: Penguin, 1999, p. 644
White, William, History, gazetteer, and directory of Norfolk and the city and County of the city of Norwich [...], Sheffield: Robert Leader, 1845, [transcribed in www.origins.org.uk/genuki/NFK/places/s/shernborne/white1845.shtml [accessed 25 August 2009]]