Bridgham No. 2

Blomefield (1805-1810) describes the church here: "The Church hath its nave, north porch, and chancel, thatched; it hath no steeple, but there are two bells, which hang in a house in the churchyard. In the windows", and its first reported chaplain/rector, "Robert de Wynewyk", in 1303, but does not mention the original font here. One of two fonts noted in Pevsner & Wilson (1999) in this church: "Norman font from Roudham, tub-shaped with angle spurs." The Historic Churches Preservation Trust mentions a "Noman bowl" originally from the church at Roudham [source: 'Recent Grants' issue of the Grants Cttee. Meeting of 22 June 2004, www.historicchurches.org.uk]. Knott (2006) writes: "The bell from the tower now sits on the nave floor at Bridgham, along with a font which is very weathered and may well also have been brought from here." The fragment reported by Simon Knott [cf. supra] at Bridgham Church appears to be the lower half of a medieval basin that was originally square at the bottom and rounded at the top with colonnettes at 90-degree angles; there appears to have been carving on the sides and on the colonnettes themselves, but the piece is too worn and damaged to make anything of its surface. There is a hole drilled on the side, near the bottom of the well, which is probably an indication of its use as a farm or garden trough; the basin would have originally had a central drain, most likely].