Worstead / Worsted / Worstede / Wredestoda

There are three entries for Worstead [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TG3026/worstead/] [accessed 6 May 2014], with two churches and churchlands reported in one of them. Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "In the reign of Edward the Confessor, the lordship of this town belonged to the abbot of St. Bennet of Holm [...] There were 2 churches with 28 acres, valued therein, and was for the provision of the monks. [...] The Church is dedicated to St. Mary, has a nave, 2 isles, and a chancel covered with lead, and a square tower with 6 bells, and was a rectory in the patronage of the family of De Worstede." The present font is described and illustrated with an engraving by J. Basire in Repton (1812) as a baptismal font "from about the reign of King Henry the Sixth to that of Henry the Eighth" [i.e., 1422-1509+]. Poole (1842) and Pugin (1843) describe this as "An extremely graceful font ". Lewis' Dictionary of 1848 notes: "the font is peculiarly rich, and the cover is of tabernacle-work elegantly designed." Andre (1889) writes: "Pyramidal covers of rich character have adorned the fonts at Worstead and North Walsham, the latter example ending in a pelican for finial as in many other cases both at home and abroad". Font and cover are illustrated in Rickman & Parkes (1881), in Bond (1908), and Cautley (1949); the latter describes the lid as a "fine example" of 15th-century font cover. There is a 1907 B&W photograph of this font by Frederick Henry Evans (1853-1943) at the Science & Society Picture Library [www.scienceandsociety.co.uk]. The octagonal basin of the Perpendicular-style font has elaborate tracery all around its sides; the octagonal pedestal has also Gothic ornamentation; the three-step plinth is ornamented with quatrefoils windows and shields on its sides. Hutton (1957) describes the cover as "typical heavy suspended cover of East Anglian tabernacle/work." Hutton (ibid.) also mentions that the description of this font in Le Keux' Collegiate and Parochial Churches (1823-4) is wrong in describing the font as hexagonal and has been wrongly followed by many. [NB: actually Le Keux reproduces a woodcut by Orlando Jewitt; in this image -as often happens in this type of perspective rendering in which there is no view of the upper horizontal plane- only three sides of the font are shown giving the impression that the font could be hexagonal; if one looks at the plinth or the cover, however, both of which show horizontal planes, it is clear that one is looking at an octagonal object]. Both font and cover are described in Pevsner & Wilson (1997), who note that the Perpendicular cover "was practically remade in 1954". Both font and cover are illustrated in Knott (2005). The font basin has tracery ornamentation on its eight sides; the underbowl has angels with spread wings at the angles as is common in the fonts of this time period. The stem of the base, also octagonal, has an angular Gothic window with a trefoil arch on each side. The three-step plinth is octagonal as well and ornamented on its two upper levels, on the sides, with Gothic arches alternating with quatrefoil motifs, all around, as well as shields on at least one of the sides of the upper step. The tall cover has a very open or "airy" construction and has a counterweight lifting apparatus to raise it. [NB: we have no information on the font(s) of the two churches that existed at Conquest time here].