Sandringham / Santdersincham

There is a single entry for Sandringham [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TF6928/sandringham/] [accessed 27 November 2013], and it makes no mention of church or cleric in it. Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "The Church of Sandringham is dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, and is a rectory [...] It is a single pile, with a tower at the west end", and mentions a font here in passing, when describing a monument in the church: "On a grave stone near the font"; the grave is identified as that of William Cobbes, 1541. With regards the date of the church, the earliest mention is in the rectors' list: "In 1232, a composition was made between the prior and convent of Westacre, patrons of a mediety of this church, and Sir Robert Tateshale, patron of the other mediety, wherein they agreed to present alternately." A work by the Rev. Patrick Ashton ([s.d.]) and our own on-site visit are the sources of information on a font located outside the church in this estate: the large (5 x 3 x 3ft) footless rectangular font is made of a single block of dark-grey marble; it is probably from the 9th century and was brought from the island of Rhodes to the Sandringham church in 1886 by the then Duke of Edinburgh. The outer sides of the basin have crosses (one encircled Greek potent cross on either narrow side, as tall as the side, [i.e., 3 ft.], and three simpler and slightly shorter Latin potent crosses -no circles- on either of the long sides). The same motifs are used on the corners of the upper surface, two encircled Greek and two plain Latin crosses, all potent, diagonally; the rest of the upper surface is covered with a Greek inscription, now practically illegible [cf. Inscription]. Pevsner & Wilson (1999) note that the font was "cut from a solid block of marble about A.D. 850"; they also note "a marble baluster font, made in Florence in 1909 and given by Edward VII." [NB: A font from Sandringham is reported moved to Eaton, near Norwich, and a second one, of the 1880s, to Flitcham, also in Norfolk -- cf. supra, as well as corresponding Index entries -- the font inside is made of Florentine marble]