King's Lynn No. 2 / Lena / Lenne / Lun / Lunea

There are five entries for 'Lynn' in the Domesday book under the variant spellings "Lena" and "Lun", but no mention of a church or cleric in it. Blomefield (1805-1810), who argues at length about the origin of the toponym, notes that "Lynn [...] from the Conqueror's book of Domesday, made in the year 1085, at which time, and in the Confessor's, this town, with the townships or hamlets of West, North, and South Lynn, we find to be all included under the general name of Lena, and Lun, the distinction of West, North. and South not being till some centuries after". Blomefield (ibid.) writes about the "chapel of St. Nicholas": "supposed to have been founded by Turbus or de Turbe Bishop of Norwich, in the reign of King Stephen, who, after it was built and consecrated, gave it to the monks of the priory of Norwich cathedral, with all its profits. At its consecration it was debarred (as a chapel to St. Margaret of the rites of baptism and marriage, to witness its dependency on St. Margaret's, the mother church; but the parishioners, about 25 years after its consecration, attempting to make it a parochial church, occasioned the successour of the founder, Bishop John de Oxford, solemnly to decree, that it should be a chapel only, dependant absolutely on the church of St. Margaret. However, the same humour still prevailed, and one of the chaplains officiating herein, procured a license from the Pope, that it might enjoy the rite of baptism, which bull was recalled at the instance of the Bishop, and the prior and convent of Norwich. In 1609, was the last effort to make it parochial and independent, but on an hearing in the consistory court at Norwich, it appearing by depositions, that all the inhabitants within the limits of St. Nicholas's chapel, though they received the sacrament or communion there, yet paid their personal tithes and offerings to the farmers of the rectory (or dissolved priory) of St. Margaret, and though persons were buried at St. Nicholas, yet none were baptized or married there, without special license or dispensation, and that there was no font in the chapel, and that from its foundation, to the priory's dissolution, it was served by a monk of the priory of St. Margaret, assigned by the prior, and afterwards served by a curate; it was over-ruled." It appears from Blomefield's research that the Chapel of St. Nicholas did not have baptisms or marriages despite the efforts of those concerned, nor did it owned a baptismal font, not, at least, until the appearance of the object noted in this entry. This object is described in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as "a large and handsome octagonal font, with strap-work and other ornamental characteristic of the earlier half of the seventeenth century, whose general appearance closely corresponds to that of a typical fifteenth-century font". Noted in Cautley (1949) as a font dated 1627 by an inscription. Pevsner & Wilson (1999) inform that the font was "given in 1627 by Bishop Harsnett of Norwich. Octagonal. The bowl with strapwork. The stem could be Perp[endicular], especially as the two-step base with quatrefoiled circles is Perp[endicular]" [NB: a footnote adds: St Nicholas had beenm licensed for baptisms in 1378 but faced opposition from St Margaret. A plaque in the floor at E[ast] end of N[orth] aisle records the first baptism on 10 March 1627." Described and illustrated in Knott (2006): "one of Norfolk's more surprising fonts. It is on a built up set of octagons panelled with flushwork, is decorated with strapwork, and bears the date 1627. There are several local fonts of about this date - Gaywood and Tilney All Saints spring to mind - but this one is singular because it may well have been the first font this building ever had. St Nicholas was granted a licence to perform baptisms as early as the 1370s, but it appears that it did not do so, and instead they were carried out in the mother church, St Margaret. In the 1620s [cf. supra], Bishop Harsant of Norwich donated the font, and the font records his gift in an inscription on the eastern face. However, the pedestal appears contemporary with the rebuilding of the church two hundred years earlier, and so one must always have been intended." Knott (2006) gives the text on the plaque: "Here resteth Anne, daughter to Joseph and Isabel Raylie. She was the first God gave unto her parents, and the first baptised in the Funt of this Chapell and died the 10th of March 1627 aged 24 dayes." The cover is noted in Pevsner & Wilson (1999): "The original of 1627 was copied and replaced in 1903 and since removed." [cf. Index entry for King's Lynne No.1 for the other font at St. Nicholas']