Frostenden No. 1 / Froxedena

INFORMATION

Font ID: 05281FRO
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 15th century, Perpendicular
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of All Saints, Frostenden
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, in the W emnd of the nave
Church Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17527299
Church Patron Saint(s): All Saints
Church Notes: two churches reported in Domesday for Frostenden
Church Address: Frostenden, Beccles NR34 7HS, United kingdom
Site Location: Suffolk, East Anglia, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located off the A12, 13 km SSW of Lowestoft
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich
Historical Region: Hundred of Blything [in Domesday]
Additional Comments: disappeared fonts? (the ones from the two churches reported in Domesday)
Font Notes:
There is an entry for Frostenden [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/TM4781/frostenden/] [accessed 17 June 2025]; it reports "2 churches. 0.23 church lands" in it. Baptismal font noted in Suckling (1846-1848): "A good octangular font stands at the west end of the nave". Noted in Parker (1855) as a good Perpendicular font. Bond (1908) writes of the cover as one of a group of "fine examples of Gothic font covers", but without a mention of the font itself. The font cover is dated in Cautley (1982) to the early 15th century. The font-cover is noted in Howard & Crossley (1919).

COORDINATES

UTM: 31U 407507 5803917
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 52.3777, 1.6412
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 52° 22′ 39.72″ N, 1° 38′ 28.32″ E

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone
Font Shape: octagonal, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal

LID INFORMATION

Date: 14th - 15th century?
Material: wood
Notes: [cf. FontNotes]

REFERENCES

  • Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 289
  • Cautley, Henry Munro, Suffolk churches and their treasures, Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1982, p. 87
  • Howard, F.E., English Church Woodwork: a Study in Craftmanship during the Mediaeval period A.D. 1250-1550, London: B.T. Batsford, 1919, p. 322
  • Parker, John Henry, The Ecclesiastical and architectural topography of England [...] Suffolk, 1855, [unpaged]
  • Suckling, Alfred, The History and Antiquities of the County of Suffolk, with genealogical and architectural notices of its several towns and villages, London: John Weale [...], 1846-1848, p. 321