Little Fransham / Frouuesham

There are three entries for Fransham (Great and Little) [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/XX0000/great-and-little-fransham/] [accessed 6 February 2014], but neither of them mentions a church or cleric in it. Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "The Church is dedicated to St. Mary, and is a rectory [...] 1306, William de Schyrewood, rector, presented by Sir Robert de Thony"; 1306 is the earliest reference to a church in Little Fransham in this source but, unless the present font was brought from elsewhere, the church must have been built between 1086 and ca.1200. The present font is described and illustrated in Cautley (1949) as an "interesting font" of the Transitional period. Described in Pevsner & Wilson (1999): "Square, early C13, with trefoiled arches to three sides of the bowl and an oval panel with foliage on the fourth. Colonnettes with cushion capitals provide support." Knott (2006) illustrates the font and writes: "The font is a fine example of the ideas buzzing about as Norman developed into Early English: still square, but with the arcading that would shortly become fashionable on octagonal fonts". The stone font consists of a square basin three sides of which are ornamented with a blind arcade, one side with round arches, another with pointed arches and the third with trefoiled arches; the forth side, as indicated above, but to the sides of the oval, three rosettes on each side; at the upper basin side, just below the rim, a pattern of very small scallop motif; the base consists of four angle colonnettes, all complete with capitals (cushion) and moulded bases; three of the colonnettes are round, one is octagonal.