Attleborough / Atilburgh / Atleburgh

Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "The Church, which is dedicated in honour of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, though there is no part of that church which was first built here now standing, but the tower only, and that not so high as it was originally [...] Who was the founder of the first church we know not, but the first alteration that was made in it was by Sir William de Mortimer, who founded the south chapel for his own interment, and it is highly probable, made the nave of the old church into a quire, and new topped the steeple; because after his foundation, service was performed after the collegiate manner; this was finished before 1297, in which year he died." Blomefield (ibid.) further notes: "1623 [...] In this year a school was erected in the south isle chapel, the timber for the seats of it, was given by the Earl of Sussex, and Sir Will. Knevet, and that for the top of the font now made. [...] 1631, The church was well repaired, and decently batteled", and names "Walter Persun" as the first recorded rector, in Richard I's reign [i.e., 1189-1199]. All of the above thus indicate that a church existed here by 1199, it underwent a major repair in 1297, and that a font got a cover in 1623. The Parish of St Mary, Attleborough, web site [www.stmaryatthleborough.org.uk] describes and illustrates "Barrett's font, designed in 1845 by Thomas Lucas, architect of the Norwich and Brandon Railway"; this font was replaced in 1975 by a late-medieval font "having been brought from the redundant St. Mary Magdalen, Norwich, which had, in turn, acquired it from Booton". Barrett's font appears in an old B&W postcard [undated] reproduced in the above web site: the font stands in the aisle, west side of the nave; it consists of an octagonal basin with protruding chamfered upper rim, decorated vertical sides and rounded underbowl, raised on a polygonal stem and lower base or plinth. [NB: the whereabouts of this mid-19th century font after its removal from Attleborough St Mary's are not stated in the above source]