South Elmham St. James / St James South Elmham
Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2009
Standing permission
Results: 8 records
view of font and cover
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2009
Image Source: digital photograph taken 10 July 2008 by Simon Knott [www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/selstjim.html] [accessed 25 May 2009]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of basin
Scene Description: the arches on the sides are practically invisible now
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2009
Image Source: digital photograph taken 10 July 2008 by Simon Knott [www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/selstjim.html] [accessed 25 May 2009]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
design element - architectural - arcade - blind - round arches
Scene Description: the arches on the basin sides are clearly visible in Suckling's engraving of ca. 1846.
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: digital image of an engraving in Suckling (1846-1848)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of church exterior - southeast view
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2009
Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 10 July 2008 by Simon Knott [www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/selstjim.html] [accessed 2 March 2012]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of church interior - nave - looking west
Scene Description: the font and cover beneath the tower arch
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2009
Image Source: digital photograph taken 10 July 2008 by Simon Knott [www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/selstjim.html] [accessed 25 May 2009]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of font cover
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: digital image of a detail of an engraving in Suckling (1846-1848)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © CRSBI, 2008
Image Source: photograph taken 18 September 2005, in the CRSBI (2008) [www.crsbi.ac.uk/search/county/site/ed-sf-selja.html] [accessed 10 March 2012]
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE
design element - motifs - leaf - 4
Scene Description: notice also the eroded arcade on the east side of the basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © CRSBI, 2008
Image Source: photograph taken 18 September 2005, in the CRSBI (2008) [www.crsbi.ac.uk/search/county/site/ed-sf-selja.html] [accessed 10 March 2012]
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE
INFORMATION
Font ID: 11721ELM
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th century (late?), Late Norman
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. James
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, at the W end of the nave
Church Patron Saint(s): St. James
Church Address: The St, South Elmham St James, Suffolk, IP19 0HJ, United Kingdom
Site Location: Suffolk, East Anglia, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located 8 km NW of Halesworth, 11 km SW of Bungay
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich [formerly in the Diocese of Norwich]
Historical Region: Hundred of Wangford
Font Notes:
Click to view
Noted with an engraving in Suckling (1846-1848): "At the foot of the western arcade stands a very large and ancient font of Norman construction, sustaining a canopy of oak, richly carved, but of much inferior date [...] the font itself is coloured yellow -- a barbarism the more to be regretted as it is carved out of Purbeck marble, a stone which bears the highest polish." Parker (1855) mentions a square font of the Norman period "on legs", with "a very good P[erpendicular] cover." Listed in Cautley (1982) as a baptismal font of the 12th century; he also points out a heavy metal dove used as counter-weight for the old cover; it is no longer in use. Noted and illustrated in the CRSBI (2008), which reports on the poor state of the Purbeck marble font, and : "The round-headed arcading and square format indicates that this is a later 12thc. model." Described and illustrated in Knott (2008): "the Norman font sits on a bold pedestal, and is crowned by an extraordinary font cover which is probably 15th century. It is as idiosyncratic as the rest of the woodwork in the building." The font consists of a square table-top basin raised on a central shaft and four angle colonnettes [NB: although the original were probably very much like the present shafts, these are a modern replacement]; the sides of the basin are very eroded now, but at least the east side has traces of what appears to be an arcade of round arches; the spandrels of the upper surface of the basin have a stylised leaf motif; the basin is raised on a quadrangular lower base of two volumes, the lower with moulded sides, and a two-step quadrangular plinth; modern. The old cover consists of a lower volume, a square crown-like base of foliated sides, on which is an octagonal pyramid with crocketed arrises and finial; there is a pulley (?) system in place to raise the cover. The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: TM3227281216] notes: "Parish church. C12, C13, C14 and C15 [...] Square C12 font of Purbeck marble with very worn shallow blank arcading round the bowl, a large central shaft and 4 smaller corner. shafts on a fluted base with a later base below that. Tall suspended C15 font cover." Noted in Leach (1975) as a font made of Purbeck marble: "bowl with panels on each face" [source given: Pevsner].
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Simon Knott, of Suffolk Churches, for the photographs of this church and font
COORDINATES
UTM: 31U 391637 5804386
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 52.379, 1.408
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 52° 22′ 44.4″ N, 1° 24′ 28.8″ E
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, limestone (Purbeck marble)
Font Shape: square, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: square
Drainage System: centre hole in basin
Drainage Notes: lead-lined
Diameter (inside rim): 50 cm*
Basin Total Height: 25 cm*
Font Height (less Plinth): 74 cm*
Trapezoidal Basin: 61 x 62 cm*
Notes on Measurements: * CRSBI (2008)
LID INFORMATION
Date: Gothic? 15th / 16th century?
Material: wood, oak
Apparatus: [NB: the CRSBI mentions a heavy cover raised on a pulley]
Notes: [cf. FontNotes and Image area]
REFERENCES
- Cautley, Henry Munro, Suffolk churches and their treasures, Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1982, p. 65, 87
- Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland. URL: http://www.crsbi.ac.uk.
- Knott, Simon, The Suffolk Churches Site, Simon Knott, 1999-. [standing permission to reproduce images received from Simon [February 2005]. URL: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk.
- Leach, Rosemary, A Investigation into the use of Purbeck Marble in Medieval England, Hartlepool: E.W. Harrisons & Sons, 1975, p. 71
- Parker, John Henry, The Ecclesiastical and architectural topography of England [...] Suffolk, 1855, [unpaged]
- Suckling, Alfred, The History and Antiquities of the County of Suffolk, with genealogical and architectural notices of its several towns and villages, London: John Weale [...], 1846-1848, vol. 1: p. 219