Merton nr. Watton / Martin / Marton / Meretuna

Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "The Church is dedicated to St. Peter [...] t stands in the King's Books by the name of Marton alias Merton", and names "Roger de Skerning, the Bishop's nephew" as the first recorded rector, in 1266. The entry for 'Meretuna' in Domesday, quoted in Blomefield, mentions neither church nor priest in it. Bond (1908) reports here a fine Gothic cover on this font, as well as a "projecting beam [...] of the same date as the cover below"; the latter is part of the system to raise the font cover [cf. Index entry for the font at Sall, also in Norfolk, for a similar system]. Described and illustrated in Cautley (1949) as a "very graceful and unusual font [...] which has, unfortunately, lost its figures round the shaft". Described in Pevsner & Wilson (1999): "C15. On two high steps. Hexagonal with shields. Angels against the underside of the bowl. Their wings reach up and frame the shields most decoratively and unexpectedly." Illustrated in Knott (2004). The pedestal base has six (?) attached colonnettes at the angles separating the blank niches, each of which has a short hexagonal stand for the statues of the base [the statues are now missing]. A font crane [i.e., the system to raise the font-cover] is noted in Howard & Crossley (1919).