Narford / Nereforda / Nerford

Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "The Church of Narford is a small regular building dedicated to the Virgin Mary, consisting of a nave, a north and south isle, with a chancel, all covered with lead; and at the west end of the nave stands a foursquare tower, with three bells, on which Sir Andrew Fountaine, a few years past, erected a spire of wood, and painted, with a weather-cock and ball gilt." Blomefield (ibid.) names "Jeffrey de Marham" as the first recorded vivar here, in 1306. The present font is listed in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as one in a very large group of baptismal fonts that are plain octagonal with straightsided basins. Noted in Pevsner & Wilson (1999) as "Octagonal and plain". This same source mentions the font cover: "Jacobean, with a spire on four turned posts." The font itself consists of an octagonal basin with moulded underbowl, and an octagonal pedestal base with a moulded lower base; stands on a small irregular polygonal plinth near one of the pillars at the back of the nave. The cover appears to be actually two covers: one is the octagonal pyramid mounted on four slender pillars at the upper rim of the font; the other is a flat octagonal cover that fits within the pillars on top of the basin well; both painted.