Burnham Overy Town / Burnham Overey

Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "The Church of Burnham Overey is dedicated to St. Clement; churches so dedicated may be observed for the most part to be always seated near some water, river, or sea; it was formerly a rectory [...] The church is built in a conventual manner, the steeple being between the nave or body, and the chancel; and has also a south isle, which with the nave is covered with lead, and the chancel is tiled, and in the tower, which is foursquare, is one bell." Blomefield (ibid.) adds: "Robert occurs vicar in the 12th of Edward I" [i.e., 1284], the first recorded vicar here. The present font here is listed in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as one in a very large group of baptismal fonts that are plain octagonal with straightsided basins. Pevsner & Wilson (1999), however, note: "Octagonal and re-cut, leaving fragments of a baptism scene and another unidentifiable scene on two of the plain bowl facets." The basin sides show damage and repairs and have a reinforcement metal ring around the stop; the octagonal base itself appears to have been altered too. The wooden cover is octagonal and flat, with metal decorations and ring handle. [NB: we have no information on the font of the original church here].