Great Plumstead / Plumesteda / Plumpstead / Plumstede Magna

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Results: 6 records

Click to view images

view of font and cover

Scene Description: the modern font [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital photograph taken 25 April 2007 by Evelyn Simak [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/920084] [accessed 12 August 2013]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of font

Image Source: reproduction in Weaver (1906) [original from the Society of Antiquaries]

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of church exterior - southeast view

Image Source: digital photograph taken 25 April 2007 by Evelyn Simak [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/920077] [accessed 12 August 2013]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of church exterior - southeast view

"Rebuilt in 1892 after destruction by fire the previous December."

EXT SE digital photograph taken 25 April 2007 by Evelyn Simak [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/920077] [accessed 12 August 2013]
INT E digital photograph taken 12 August 2004 by Evelyn Simak [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/312369] [accessed 12 August 2013]
INT W digital photograph taken 25 April 2007 by Evelyn Simak [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/920082] [accessed 12 August 2013]
MODERN FONT digital photograph taken 25 April 2007 by Evelyn Simak [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/920084] [accessed 12 August 2013]

Scene Description: "Rebuilt in 1892 after destruction by fire the previous December." EXT SE digital photograph taken 25 April 2007 by Evelyn Simak [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/920077] [accessed 12 August 2013] INT E digital photograph taken 12 August 2004 by Evelyn Simak [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/312369] [accessed 12 August 2013] INT W digital photograph taken 25 April 2007 by Evelyn Simak [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/920082] [accessed 12 August 2013] MODERN FONT digital photograph taken 25 April 2007 by Evelyn Simak [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/920084] [accessed 12 August 2013]

Image Source: B&W photograph taken 19 July 1989 by George Plunkett [www.georgeplunkett.co.uk/Norfolk/G/Gt Plumstead St Michael's church from SE [6566] 1989-07-19.jpg] [accessed 14 August 2013]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission by Jonathan Plunkett

view of church interior - nave - looking west

Scene Description: the modern font visible at the west end of the nave

Image Source: digital photograph taken 25 April 2007 by Evelyn Simak [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/920082] [accessed 12 August 2013]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of church interior - nave - looking east

Image Source: digital photograph taken 12 August 2004 by Evelyn Simak [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/312369] [accessed 12 August 2013]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

INFORMATION

Font ID: 05290PLU

Object Type: Baptismal Font1?

Font Century and Period/Style: 12th - 13th century, Norman

Workshop/Group/Artisan: lead font

Church / Chapel Name: Church of St. Mary the Virgin

Font Location in Church: [destroyed/disappeared]

Church Patron Saint(s): St. Mary the Virgin

Church Address: Church Road, Great Plumstead, Norfolk, NR13 5AB

Site Location: Norfolk, East Anglia, England, United Kingdom

Directions to Site: Located 8 km E of Norwich

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Norwich

Historical Region: Hundred of Blofield

Additional Comments: disappeared font / destroyed font in a fire in 1891: "One of the lead fonts, now vanished, was at Great Plumstead, Norfolk; it melted when the church was burnt down." (Bond, 1985, c1908: 77)

Font Notes: Click to view

Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "The Church, with the chapel of St. Eustachius, was appropriated by John de Grey Bishop of Norwich [d.1214] [...] 1300, Gilbert de Hecham, instituted vicar, presented by the prior of Norwich." Paley (1844) and Cox (1875) list a lead font here. Andre (1882) lists a Norman lead font in this church. Lethaby (1893) reports: "A Norman font of lead at Great Plumstead was destroyed with the church in the fire of December, 1891. It is figured by Cotman [...] Arch. Remains, vol. i., series 2." In Lethaby (1893) [after Andre]. Noted and illustrated in Weaver (1906) [NB: in Weaver's illustration the basin, which appears raised on a stone pedestal base, seems to have been cut around the upper rim]. Bond (1908) writes: "One of the lead fonts, now vanished, was at Great Plumstead, Norfolk; it melted when the church was burnt down." Bell (1927?) lists an 1838 water-colour drawing of this font by Miles Edmund Cotman in the Bulwer Collection. A watercolour "inscribed 'GREAT PLUMSTEAD FONT.' (in the margin), and dated 'Feby. 27th. 1815.' (lower right) pencil 6 x 4¼ in. (15.2 x 10.8 cm.)" by John Sell Cotman (1782-1842) was auctioned of at Christie's [sale 5696] on 12 November 1996 and realized £1,150 [source: www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/john-sell-cotman-a-leaden-font-in-1043559-details.aspx?intObjectID=1043559 [accessed 12 August 2013]. A pencil drawing of the same font by the same artist, dated 1815, was listed as "Lot6" for sale at [www.artvalue.com/auctionresult--cotman-john-sell-1782-1842-uni-leaden-font-in-great-plumstead-137141.htm] [accessed 12 August 2013]. The National Archives [www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=153-pd123&cid=4-7#4-7] [accessed 12 August 2013] lists "Letters PD 123/62 1899 - 1938" held at the Norfolk Record Office, with contents described as: "Letters to incumbent describing old font, 1899; re translations of Domesday Book entry relating to Great Plumstead, 1900; re 16th century inventory of church goods, 1907; re etching of font, 1912; re purchase of land by Witton Rectory, 1926; re tithe redemption and C.M.S. collections, 1938." Another fine leaden example was at Great Plumpstead; but it has been so shockingly mutilated that only a portion remains about the depth of an ordinary stew-pan/" Knott (2005) informs that according to Richard Hale's 'History of Great Plumstead', a fierce fire destroyed most of the church building east of the tower on the night of December 15th 1891. [NB: the illustration in Weaver [cf. supra] appears to show charged shields (?) between columns (?) above a vine, hardly a Norman design, but we do not know how accurate the drawing is, or even if it may refer to the same original font]. The modern font in this church is octagonal, the sides of the basin carved with shields in a traceried background.

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Jonathan Plunkett for the photograph of this church, taken by his father, George Plunkett, in 1989

COORDINATES

UTM: 31U 391726 5833235

Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 52.638275, 1.399911

Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 52° 38′ 17.79″ N, 1° 23′ 59.68″ E

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: metal, lead

Number of Pieces: one

REFERENCES

André, J. Lewis, "Leaden Fonts in Sussex", 32, Surrey Archaeological Collections, relating to the history and antiquities of the county, 1882
André, J. Lewis, "Notes on Ritualistic Ecclesiology in North-East Norfolk", XLVI, Archaeological Journal, 1889, pp. 136-155; p. 146
Bell, C.F., Miles Edmund Cotman (1810-1858): with a catalogue of fifty drawings by him, selected from the Bulwer Collection, London: Walker's Galleries, [1927?], p. 34
Blomefield, Francis, An essay towards a topographical history of Norfolk, 1805-1810, vol. 7: 238-240 / [www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=78345] [accessed 12 August 2013]
Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 77
Cox, John Charles, 1875-1877
Lethaby, William Richard, Leadwork, old and ornamental, and for the most part English [...] with illustrations, London; New York: Macmillan & co., 1893, p. 61 / [www.gutenberg.org/files/41544/41544-h/41544-h.htm] [accessed 12 August 2013]
Paley, Frederick Apthorp, Illustrations of Baptismal Fonts, London, UK: John van Voorst, 1844, p. 24
Weaver, Lawrence, "Some English Architectural Leadwork. Part IV--Lead Fonts", 8, 34 (Jan. 1906), The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, 1906, pp. 246-[256]; p. 246 and ill. on p. 249