Rockland St. Mary / Rockland Abbots / Rokelund / Rokelunda

Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "In this churchyard there were two churches; the church of St. Margaret is in ruins, and stands a few yards east of St. Mary's; it never had a steeple, but consisted of a chancel and nave only, and was much of the same bigness with St. Mary's [...] The church of St. Mary is now in use [...] The church is 13 paces long and 6 yards broad, the chancel is 7 yards long and 5 broad, the steeple is square, about 50 feet high, and hath 3 bells, the nave is thatched, the chancel and south porch are tiled.". Blomefield (ibid.) names "Rob. de Benacre, accolite" first recorded rector here, in 1305. The present font is noted in Pevsner & Wilson (1999): "Font. C15. Octagonal, with a panelled stem and on the bowl demi-figures of angels holding shields. Thoroughly re-cut." Noted and illustrated in Knott (2005): "The font is refurbished in a rather eccentric way, some of the niches in the stem filled with garishly coloured statues". [NB" it is not clear whether or not the carvings on the basin sides are representative of what was there originally]. The wooden cover is octagonal and flat, with metal decoration; 19th-century? [NB: we have no information on the font of the original church here] [cf. Index entry for Rockland St. Mary for the church which shared the churchyard with this one]