Wymondham No. 1 / Widmundham / Wimondham / Wimundham / Windham / Winmuntham

There are two entries for this Wymondham [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TG1101/wymondham/] [accessed 28 August 2015], neither of which mentions cleric or church in it. Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "The vicarage was settled in 1221, the Vicar being to have half the offerings at the altar, except on the four feast days, of the Purification and Birth of the Virgin Mary, (on which days great feasts were held here, the church being dedicated to her when it was finished, and to St. Thomas Becket [...] This shews it was some years before the church was finished, after the nomination of the first prior, for Becket was not murdered till 1130, in which year the first prior was appointed." Blomefield (ibid.) names 'Walter', as the firs recorded vicar, unfortunately without a date, and describes the font in this church: "There is a fine old font, on which are the emblems of the four Evangelists, of the Holy Trinity, and of the Sacrament, and a shield with three crowns; and round the steps is an inscription, now illegible, all but 'Dunwule' et 'Animabus'." Listed in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as "the original Early English [hexagonal] font at Wymondham (Norfolk), the fragments of which are now preserved within the church". Pevsner & Wilson (1999) write: "Fragments of a beautiful C13 font of Purbeck marble with stiff-leaf capitals lie in the room over the porch." [cf. Index entry for Wymondham No. 2 for the later ornate font].