Foulsham / Folsham

The Domesday entry for "Folsham", transcribed and translated in Blomefield (1805-1810), reports that "In King Edward's time [ca. 1042-1066] [...] the church had 22 acres"; but at the time of the survey itself, it was "endowed with 16 acres". Blomefield (ibid.) adds: "The Church is rectory, dedicated to the Holy Innocents, [...] it was built by the Lord Morley, and consists of a nave, 2 isles, and a chancel, and has a square tower with 5 tuneable bells [...] Here is a neat font of stone, with a wooden cover, which opens below, and therein are the four Evangelists painted." [NB: the Lord Morley noted in Blomefiled as builder of this church [cf. supra] would have been Henry Lovel, 8th Baron Morley (d. 1489)]. Bond (1908) mentions that "the interior of the cover had paintings of the Evangelists" and cites C.E. Keyser's List of Buildings having Mural Decorations (lxxxi) as source. Pevsner & Wilson note the 19th-century font but not the cover: "Octagonal, looks Perp[endicular], but replaced in 1887: panelled stem and a bowl with flowers and quatrefoils". Font and cover are noted and illustrated in Knott (2006); the cover is a tall open-work rim-buffet lid with opening doors to provide access to the inner well of the font; they are located at the west end of the nave. [NB: the original church here goes back to pre-Conquest times, but we have no information on the earlier font(s)].