Outwell / Utwelle / Welle / Welles

There are two entries for Outwell [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TF5103/outwell/] [accessed 26 April 2016], neither of which mentions cleric or priest in it. Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "U[pwell and] O[utwell]. The greatest part of these towns with their lands, lie in Cambridgeshire, or the isle of Ely, but as the churches of both stand in Norfolk, I shall offer some particulars relating thereto. [...] Outwell Church is dedicated to St. Clement, and is a large regular building of carr and boulder-stone, &c. consisting of a nave, a north and south isle, and a chancel, all embattled with copings, of stone and brick, the roofs of oak, covered with lead; at the west end of the nave is a foursquare tower of the aforesaid materials, with quoins of free stone; on that is raised a neat spire of wood, covered with lead; in this tower is a ring of five bells, and a town clock, the length of the church from the west door to the chancel, is about 78 feet, and the breadth, including both the isles, about 53 feet." Blomefield (ibid.) names "Robert de Gloucester, presented by the King" as first recorded rector here, in "1216, (17 of John's reign)". Blomefield (ibid.) reports also "this little old priory, founded in the time of the Saxons, (as is said,) of the order of St. Benedict [...] Mulicourt Priory, Called also the Chapel of St. Mary de Bello Loco."; there was also "In this parish was the hermitage of St. Christopher. In the 22d of Edward III. [i.e., 1349] a patent was granted for building a chapel to it." The font here is listed in Paley (1844) as a hexagonal baptismal font. Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as one of a few hexagonal fonts in England later than the 14th century [others cited in C&H are: Faringdon, Kegworth, Rolvenden and Sleaford]. Noted in Pevsner & Wilson (1999): "Perp[endicular], simple, octagonal, with cusped tracery patterns." [NB: the font, basin and base, is actually hexagonal, as noted by most other sources]. The Victoria County History (Cambridge..., vol 4, 2016) notes: "The Norwich Valuation of 1254 assessed the churches of Outwell and Upwell at £13 6s. 8d. and £6 13s. 4d. respectively. [...] There was a church on the site in the 13th century, of which the only visible remains are the first three stages of the tower. In the 14th century the present arcades were built and the aisles assumed their existing form. In the second half of the 15th century there was an extensive scheme of rebuilding and enlargement which was not completed until about 1520, the north chancel chapel being approximately of this date. In 1863 the church was severely restored [...] The 15th-century font has a hexagonal bowl with two shallow cinquefoiled niches on each face and one on each face of the shaft." Illustrated in Knott (2005). The decoration consists chiefly of pairs of cinquefoiled arches or windows on the sides of the basin and stem, as well as mouldings on the underbowl and lower base; raised on a polygonal plinth. The wooden cover is a hexagonal platform with three low-rise scroll ribs converging on a ball finial; appears relatively modern, perhaps 19th-century.