Watlington nr. King's Lynn

Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "This town is not mentioned in the book of Domesday, or the Conqueror's grand survey, being part of the townships of Shouldham, Wirmegay, and Westbrigg, whose lordships extended here [...] Hermerus de Ferrarijs was the capital lord of it [...] The Church of Watlington is dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, it has a nave with a north and south isle annexed, all covered with lead, and built of carr stone and boulder, in length about 57 feet, in breadth, including the isles, about 43 feet; at the west end of the nave is a four square tower of the same materials, with quoins of free stone, embattled with brick but coped with stone, and 4 stone pinnacles, one at each corner, on this is a cap of wood, covered with lead, a weather cock thereon, and four bells are in the said tower. [...] The chancel is of the same materials with the church, and is separated from the nave by a screen; it is in length about 46 feet, and 19 in breadth, is lofty and covered with reed. [...] In the 41st. of Henry III. Richard de Herlawe sued Robert son of William de Watlington, for messuages, lands, and the advowson of this church, [...] in which family this advowson and manor (as we have observed) continued till the beginning of the reign of King Edward I. [...] Roger de Tony was instituted the 26th of September 1321, presented by Geffrey de Bruseyerd and Agnes his wife, and occurs rector in the 9th of Edward III."[i.e., 1336]. The earliest date mentioned in Blomefield (ibid.) for this church is therefore "In the 41st. of Henry III.", i.e., 1257, although the church may have existed earlier. Lewis' Dictionary of 1848 notes: "the font is elaborately embellished with sculpture". Noted and illustrated in Cautley (1949). Described in Pevsner & Wilson (1999): "Font. Octagonal, Perp[endicular], with eight large standing figures against the stem and sixteen small figures against the bowl; early C16.- Font cover. Dated 1671, with columns, a spire, and a pelican at the top, in a similar vein to the one at Wiggenhall St Mary the Virgin. Conical top on eight columns and an arcade." Octagonal mounted font of the type in which the arches of the lower basin side overhang the pedestal of the base (as in the fonts at Badingham and Hitchin, for instance); there are two niches on each of the basin sides, each occupied by a standing figure holding a particular object or symbol; all these figures have been decapitated or badly defaced; the octagonal pedestal also has standing figures, one per side; they appear to wear clerical vestments; they are all decapitated and/or defaced. Knott (2005) notes the font as 15th-century "and a bit like the one at Stalham with apostles and other Saints around the bowl and base, though badly vandalised here", as well as "a fine Laudian cover, with a later gilt pelican on top". [NB: we have no information on the font of the original 13th-century(?) church here].