Pagham / Pageham

There is an entry for Pagham [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SZ8897/pagham/] [accessed 18 February 2023]; it mentions two churches in it. Harrison (1920) reports a square font of the Norman period in this church. Listed in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as a good specimen from a group of fonts "characteristic of the Norman period in architecture", "consisting of a rectangular bowl upon a large central shaft, with four slender supporting shafts at the angles"; ornamented with an arcade on the sides and "large unconnected leaves of quatrefoil shape, set X-wise". The Victoria County History (Sussex, vol. 4, 1953) notes: "the existing building dates from the 13th century, possibly incorporating a fragment of 11th-century work, and was drastically restored and in part rebuilt in the 19th century [...] The font itself has a square basin with shallow round-headed arcading resting on one thick and four slender shafts; the basin is of the 12th century, the shafts are renewals." Described in Whiteman (1994): "The 12th-century square font has shallow arcading and a four-lobed foliage design". Described and illustrated in the CRSBI (2008): "The form of the font and the arcading of the S and E sides point to a 12thc. date. The N and W sides may have been recarved c.1300. The form of the W facade, while reminiscent of W French facades, appears 19thc. and this is confirmed by the capital forms which use Romanesque motifs in a very un-Romanesque way. The stone is friable and extremely worn despite its relative youth." (Location: N Transept; in early 20thc. was at W end S aisle.) The font has a square Sussex marble bowl with a round, lead-lined basin. The slightly tapering sides are carved as follows: E side: a six-arch arcade - N side: in the centre is a stylised tree [or a human being?], with a quartered 'fleur-de-lys' or 'oak leaf' type foliage panel to either side. - W side: the central motif is damaged by a lead plug. To either side is a quartered foliage motif. The leaf forms are cusped. - S side: a seven-arch arcade. One arch, smaller than the others, has been squeezed in on the extreme right. The underside of the bowl has mouldings for five columns: a fat central shaft and four slender angle shafts. The present shafts, however, and the plinth are modern (freestone)". The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SZ8836997475] does not mention the font in it. Noted in Leach (1975) as a font made of Purbeck marble: "bowl with panels on one face and leaf carving on another; supports are modern" [source given: The Revd. F. Leese]