Norwich No. 4 / Norwic

Image and permission received (e-mail of 1/4/2004)

Results: 7 records

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B01: angel - holding shield - 4

Scene Description: Alternating with the panels occupied by the Evangelists' symbols

Image Source: Jonathan Plunkett (from the collection of George Plunkett)

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 1/4/2004)

B02: Apostle or saint - Evangelists - symbol - 4

Scene Description: alternating with the panels occupied by angels holding shields

Image Source: Jonathan Plunkett (from the collection of George Plunkett)

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 1/4/2004)

BU01: angel - cherub - 8

Scene Description: one angel at each of the angles of the upper underbowl

Image Source: Jonathan Plunkett (from the collection of George Plunkett)

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 1/4/2004)

BU02: design element - motifs - floral - Tudor rose

Scene Description: one on each side of the lower underbowl

Image Source: Jonathan Plunkett (from the collection of George Plunkett)

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 1/4/2004)

LB01: animal - mammal - lion - sejant - 4

Scene Description: One on each side of the cruciform base, mounted on a short pedestal

Image Source: Jonathan Plunkett (from the collection of George Plunkett)

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 1/4/2004)

view of font

Image Source: engraving in Paley (1844: unpaged]

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of font and cover

Image Source: Jonathan Plunkett (from the collection of George Plunkett)

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 1/4/2004)

INFORMATION

FontID: 01717NOR

Church/Chapel: Church of St. John de Sepulchre

Church Patron Saints: St. John

Country Name: England

Location: Norfolk, East Anglia

Directions to Site: Located on Ber St.

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Norwich

Font Location in Church: Inside the church, in the W end, centre of the nave

Century and Period: 15th century, Perpendicular

Workshop/Group/Artisan: heraldic font

Cognate Fonts: Paley (1844) gives Saxlingham, Hales, Blicking, All Saints and St. Mary, Shotesham and Lev[th?]eringham either as copies or done by the same artist

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Jonathan Plunkett for the photograph of this font, taken by his father, George Plunkett, in 1937-1938.

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

There are ten entries for Norwich [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/TG2308/norwich/] [accessed 13 October 2020], one of which records "22.7 churches. 2.57 church lands" in it; a separate entry records a priest and a church in it. Described and illustrated in Paley (1844) as a baptismal font of a design that "seems to be a favourite one in Norfolk, as there are several of the same style and character, with so little variation in the form and decorations as to leave scarcely any doubt that they were either copied from each other, or were the work of one artist. We can name Saxlingham, Hales, Blicking, All Saints and St. Mary, Shotesham, and Leveringham." Noted in Pevsner & Wilson (1997): "Perp[endicular]. Against the stem four laughing lions and four demi-figures of angels." Octagonal mounted font of the 15th century in the Perpendicular style. The octagonal basin has four sides ornamented with the symbols of the Evangelists, alternating with angels holding shields [now blank] on the other four. The upper level of the underbowl has a cherub with spread wings at each of the eight angles, with Tudor floral motifs on the lower part of the chamfer. The base has a sedente lion on each of its four sides mounted on a short and plain octagonal lower base. There is a tall one-step plinth. The octagonal wooden cover is flat but has a short four-ribs-around-a-pivot centre piece with a Latin cross finial; it appears modern. [We are grateful to Jonathan Plunkett for the photograph of this font, taken by his father, George Plunkett, in 1937-1938]

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 52.621781, 1.299469

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 52° 37′ 18.41″ N, 1° 17′ 58.09″ E

UTM: 31U 384886 5831556

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, type unknown

Font Shape: octagonal (mounted)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal

Rim Thickness: 5.5 cm

Diameter (inside rim): 57.5 cm

Diameter (includes rim): 68.5 cm

Font Height (less Plinth): 102.5 cm

Font Height (with Plinth): 185 cm

Notes on Measurements: Paley (1844: unpaged)

LID INFORMATION

Date: modern?

Material: wood,

Apparatus: no

Notes: [cf. FontNotes]

REFERENCES

Bloxam, Matthew Holbeche, The Principles of Gothic ecclesiastical architecture, with an explanation of technical terms […], London: W. Kent, 1859

Paley, Frederick Apthorp, Illustrations of Baptismal Fonts, London, UK: John van Voorst, 1844

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