Merton nr. Watton / Martin / Marton / Meretuna
Image copyright © Evelyn Simak, 2008
CC-BY-SA-3.0
Results: 6 records
view of font
Scene Description: the old cover not visible in this source
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Evelyn Simak, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Evelyn Simak 1 August 2008 [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/907116] [accessed 15 March 2009]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0
symbol - shield - blank - 6?
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Evelyn Simak, 2008
Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken by Evelyn Simak 1 August 2008 [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/907116] [accessed 15 March 2009]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0
angel - 6
Scene Description: the wings reaching up to the sides of the shields
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Evelyn Simak, 2008
Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken by Evelyn Simak 1 August 2008 [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/907116] [accessed 15 March 2009]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0
view of church exterior - west end
Scene Description: the old cover not visible in this source
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Evelyn Simak, 2008
Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken by Evelyn Simak 19 February 2008 [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/696764] [accessed 15 March 2009]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0
design element - architectural - column
Scene Description: on the sides of the pedestal base
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Evelyn Simak, 2008
Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken by Evelyn Simak 1 August 2008 [http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/907116] [accessed 15 March 2009]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Cautley, 1949
Image Source: Cautley (1949: 126)
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission received from the publisher
INFORMATION
Font ID: 01718MER
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 15th century, Perpendicular
Workshop/Group/Artisan: heraldic font
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Peter
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, at the W end
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Peter
Church Address: Thompson Road, Merton, Norfolk, IP25 6QJ
Site Location: Norfolk, East Anglia, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located just SW of Watton, about 35-40 km W of Norwich (the church stands in the grounds of the Park Land which surrounds the Hall)
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Norwich
Historical Region: Hundred of Wayland
Additional Comments: damaged font: the statues of the base were removed
Font Notes:
Click to view
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).
COORDINATES
UTM: 31U 352091 5824083
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 52.546707, 0.818673
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 52° 32′ 48.14″ N, 0° 49′ 7.22″ E
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, type unknown
Font Shape: hexagonal, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: hexagonal
LID INFORMATION
Date: Gothic / 15th-16th century?
Material: wood
Apparatus: A projecting beam of the same date as the cover below runs a rope along its length to operate as a winch (Bond, p. 298)
Notes: the wooden cover on the font now is modern
REFERENCES
- Blomefield, Francis, An essay towards a topographical history of Norfolk, 1805-1810, vol. 2: 298-312 / [www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=78072] [accessed 14 March 2013]
- Cautley, Henry Munro, Norfolk Churches, Ipswich: Norman Adlard & Co., 1949, p. 21 and ill. on p. 126
- Howard, F.E., English Church Woodwork: a Study in Craftmanship during the Mediaeval period A.D. 1250-1550, London: B.T. Batsford, 1919, p. 326
- Knott, Simon, The Norfolk Churches Site, Simon Knott, 2004. [standing permission to reproduce images received from Simon (February 2005]. URL: www.norfolkchurches.co.uk.
- Pevsner, Nikolaus, Norfolk 2: North-West and South (2nd ed.), London: Penguin, 1999, p. 538