Irstead / Iristead / Irsted / Irstede / Ordesteda / Oresteda / Orsteada

Main image for Irstead / Iristead / Irsted / Irstede / Ordesteda / Oresteda / Orsteada

Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2004

Standing permission

Results: 20 records

B01: Christ - head - haloed

Bond states that this is the Veil of Veronica. Tyrrell-Green and others argue that it is just Christ's head, with a cruciferous nimbus and a nebuly background
Scene Description: Bond states that this is the Veil of Veronica. Tyrrell-Green and others argue that it is just Christ's head, with a cruciferous nimbus and a nebuly background
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph September 2004 in Norfolk Churches [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/irstead/irstead.htm]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

B02: Christ - Agnus Dei - with cross and banner - couchant

on one of the panels of basin sides
Scene Description: on one of the panels of basin sides
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: Tyrrell-Green (1928: fig. 76)
Copyright Instructions: PD

B03: design element - motifs - foliage

on the panels to the right and left of Christ's head
Scene Description: on the panels to the right and left of Christ's head
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph September 2004 in Norfolk Churches [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/irstead/irstead.htm]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

B04: God - Manus Dei - with scroll

Font image
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph September 2004 in Norfolk Churches [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/irstead/irstead.htm]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

B05: Apostle or saint - St. John the Baptist - head

the Baptist's head on a platter?
Scene Description: the Baptist's head on a platter?
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph September 2004 in Norfolk Churches [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/irstead/irstead.htm]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

BU01: human figure - head - 8

one on each angle of the chamfer; they could be cherubs
Scene Description: one on each angle of the chamfer; they could be cherubs
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph September 2004 in Norfolk Churches [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/irstead/irstead.htm]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

BU02: design element - motifs - foliage

on the sides of the chamfer, between the heads
Scene Description: on the sides of the chamfer, between the heads
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph September 2004 in Norfolk Churches [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/irstead/irstead.htm]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

LB01: animal - mammal - lion - sejant - 4

on alternate sides of the octagonal basin
Scene Description: on alternate sides of the octagonal basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph September 2004 in Norfolk Churches [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/irstead/irstead.htm]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

LBF01: Apostle or saint - saint - unidentified - 4

on alternate sides of the octagonal pedestal; described in Tyrrell-Green as "saints"
Scene Description: on alternate sides of the octagonal pedestal; described in Tyrrell-Green as "saints"
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph September 2004 in Norfolk Churches [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/irstead/irstead.htm]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font and cover

Font image
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph September 2004 in Norfolk Churches [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/irstead/irstead.htm]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font and cover in context

Font image
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph September 2004 in Norfolk Churches [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/irstead/irstead.htm]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font

Font image
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: Tyrrell-Green (1928: fig. 76)
Copyright Instructions: PD

view of basin

Font image
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph September 2004 in Norfolk Churches [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/irstead/irstead.htm]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church exterior

Photo caption: "14c except for south aisle which is 15c"
Scene Description: Photo caption: "14c except for south aisle which is 15c"
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © George Plunkett, 2014
Image Source: B&W photograph taken 13 April 1977 by George Plunkett [www.georgeplunkett.co.uk/Norfolk/I/Irstead St Michael's church from SW [5740] 1977-04-13.jpg] [accessed 29 April 2014]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission by Jonathan Plunkett

view of church exterior - northeast view

Font image
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph September 2004 in Norfolk Churches [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/irstead/irstead.htm]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church interior - chancel - rood-screen, choir-screen; iconostasis - dais

west view of the south side
Scene Description: west view of the south side
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph September 2004 in Norfolk Churches [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/irstead/irstead.htm] [accessed 29 April 2014]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church interior - chancel - rood-screen, choir-screen; iconostasis - dais

west view of the north side
Scene Description: west view of the north side
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph September 2004 in Norfolk Churches [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/irstead/irstead.htm] [accessed 29 April 2014]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church interior - nave - looking west

the font at the west end
Scene Description: the font at the west end
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph September 2004 in Norfolk Churches [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/irstead/irstead.htm] [accessed 29 April 2014]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church interior - nave - looking east

Font image
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph September 2004 in Norfolk Churches [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/irstead/irstead.htm] [accessed 29 April 2014]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of basin - detail

Font image
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Bond (1908)
Copyright Instructions: PD

INFORMATION

Font ID: 01718IRS
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 15th century, Perpendicular
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Michael
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, at the W end of the nave
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Michael
Church Address: Irstead Road, Barton Turf, Norfolk NR12 8XP
Site Location: Norfolk, East Anglia, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located 20-25 km ENE of Norwich, E of the A1151
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Norwich
Historical Region: Hundred of Tunstede
Additional Comments: disappeared font? (the one from the ca.1300 church here)
Font Notes:
Blomefield (1805-1810) gives the Domesady survey entry as "Ordesteda", which shows no church or cleric in it, and writes: "The Church is dedicated to St. Michael, and is a rectory [...] ; in the reign of Edward I. when the rector had a manse, and 7 acres of land, the abbot of Holme was patron, and had a portion of tithe [...] William, son of Bartholomew de Reedham, was rector, sans date"; the second recorded rector appears in Blomefield (ibid.): "1306, Mr. Walter de Pykeryng". Lewis' Dictionary of 1848 entry for Irstead St. Michael's notes: "the font is curiously sculptured." Described and partially illustrated in Bond (1908) as an octagonal font with symbols of the Passion on the basin side panels, one of them "is the Vernicle of St Veronica -the handkerchief with the miraculous print of Our Lord's face- and cruciferous nimbus"; it also has several human figures on the pedestal base. Tyrrell-Green (1928) contends that "writers are mistaken [...] in stating that the vernicle of St. Veronica is represented at Irstead"; he identifies lions séjant alternating with saints on the pedestal base of this font, and states that "the unusually good font at Irstead [...] has a curious pattern behind the devices of its panels. This has been often wrongly described, but is evidently intended to represent clouds, and resembles the heraldic charge of nebuly. Upon this background of cloud are shown, in separate panels, a hand with a scroll, the Agnus Dei, the Head of Christ within a nimbus with a cross, and another head within a circle". Described in Pevsner & Wilson (1997), who identify the "The Baptist's head on a salver opposite the Agnus Dei". Described and illustrated in Knott (2004), where he notes that, whereas the east panel of the basin depicts the head of Christ "on a patterned background", the second head, contrary to Mortlock's view, "is the head of St. John the Baptist, prepared on a platter for Salome". Two other panels are described by Knott: on one, "the hand of God offers a scroll, presumably of the Law, while a fourth has very curious, dovelike shapes coming togetherto form somethingwhich may or may not be a green man." [NB: Knott's identification of the two head panels is probably more likely than the earlier references in Bond or Tyrrell-Green]. Traces of colour remain on both panels. At the angles of the underbowl are small human (?) heads. Flat wooden font cover; appears modern. The font is raised on a two-step octagonal plinth.
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Simon Knott, of www.norfolkchurches.co.uk, for his photographs of this church and font; we are also grateful to Jonathan Plunkett for the photograph of this church taken by his father, George Plunkett, in April 1977

COORDINATES

UTM: 31U 398828 5843310
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 52.730194, 1.501735
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 52° 43′ 48.7″ N, 1° 30′ 6.25″ E

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

REFERENCES

  • Blomefield, Francis, An essay towards a topographical history of Norfolk, 1805-1810, vol. 11: 46-49 / [www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=78741] [accessed 29 April 2014]
  • Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 249, 253 and ill. on p. 251
  • Knott, Simon, The Norfolk Churches Site, Simon Knott, 2004. [standing permission to reproduce images received from Simon (February 2005]. 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, [www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=51064] [accessed 14 February 2007]
  • Pevsner, Nikolaus, Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East [2nd ed.], Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1997, p. 577-578
  • Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928, p. vi, 115, 119 and fig. 76