West Lexham / Leccesham / Lecesham / Lechesham

Standing permission

Results: 5 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

view of church exterior - southwest view

Scene Description: the church and tower in 2005

Image Source: digital photograph taken 28 May 2005 by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/westlexham/westlexham.htm] [accessed 4 September 2009]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church exterior - southwest view

Scene Description: the date of the scene is probably in the 19th century, prior to the restoration of the church and tower

Image Source: digital photograph of an old print, taken 28 May 2005 by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/westlexham/westlexham.htm] [accessed 4 September 2009]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church exterior - southwest view

Scene Description: Photo caption: "Largely rebuilt except for the round tower, the east side of which is flattened out. This probably occurred when the nave was rebuilt"

Image Source: B&W photograph taken 6 September 1977 by George Plunkett [www.georgeplunkett.co.uk/Norfolk/W/W Lexham St Nicholas' church from SW [5845] 1977-09-06.jpg] [accessed 19 November 2013]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission by Jonathan Plunkett

view of church interior - nave - looking west

Scene Description: the font at the west end, behind the row of benches on the south side of the aisle, near the south door

Image Source: digital photograph taken 28 May 2005 by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/westlexham/westlexham.htm] [accessed 4 September 2009]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font

Scene Description: [cf. Font notes]

Image Source: digital photograph taken 28 May 2005 by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/westlexham/westlexham.htm] [accessed 4 September 2009]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

INFORMATION

FontID: 06010LEX

Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Nicholas

Church Patron Saints: St. Nicholas of Myra

Church Location: Lexham West, Norfolk PE32 2QN

Country Name: England

Location: Norfolk, East Anglia

Directions to Site: Located just E of the A1065, 9 km N of Swaffham

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Norwich

Historical Region: Hundred of Launditch

Font Location in Church: Inside the church, at the W end of the nave, S side

Century and Period: 14th century [basin only] [composite font], Medieval [composite]

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Simon Knott, of www.norfolkchurches.co.uk, for his photographs of this church and font; we are also grateful to Jonathan Plunkett for the photograph of this church, taken by his father, George Plunkett, in September 1977

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

TOne of the two entries in the Domesday survey for "Lechesham" or "Leccesham" [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/XX0000/east-and-west-lexham/] [accesssd 19 November 2013] reports a church here with thirty acres of land. Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "The towns of East and West Lexham had the additional names of East and West, since the Conquest: being then called Leccesham and Lechesham [...] The church is dedicated to St. Nicholas, and was given to the priory of Petreston. [...] The priory of Petreston had the patronage of the church in 1229} [...] The Church is a single pile with a chancel covered with thatch, and a round tower at the west end.". 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. Illustrated in Knott (2005). The font appears to be a composite object: the square (?) basin appears re-cut but may be originally from the 14th century; it appears to have been re-cut on the underbowl; the stem and moulded lower base are octagonal and of a later date, perhaps Victorian; the quadrangular plinth is even later, very recent..

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 52.721171, 0.726098

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 52° 43′ 16.22″ N, 0° 43′ 33.95″ E

UTM: 31U 346427 5843679

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone

Font Shape: octagonal (mounted)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal

REFERENCES

Blomefield, Francis, An essay towards a topographical history of Norfolk, 1805-1810

Knott, Simon, The Norfolk Churches Site, Simon Knott, 2004. [standing permission to reproduce images received from Simon (February 2005]. Accessed: 2009-09-04 00:00:00. URL: www.norfolkchurches.co.uk.

Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928