Wiveton / Wifton / Wiventona / Wivetuna

There are two entries for Wiveton [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TG0442/wiveton/] [accessed 30 January 2014], neither of which mentions a church or cleric in it. Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "The Church is dedicated to the Virgin Mary [...] Bartholomew de Bonevile occurs rector in 1248, and 1258 [...] the prior of Castleacre had a portion valued at 16s. there was an agreement between that prior and Master Bartholomew, rector of this church, confirmed by Walter Bishop of Norwich" [NB: only two of the medieval bishops of Norwich were named Walter, and only one of the two, Walter Suffield (consecrated 1245 - died 1257) fits the time frame]. Lewis' Dictionary of 1848 reports a "handsomely sculptured" font in this church. Pevsner & Wilson (1997) suggest a 14th-century date. Illustrated in Knott (2004). The font consists of an octagonal basin decorated with deeply-set rectangular panels [there may have been carving in them at some poitn but they appear pempty now], the angles forming pinnacled buttresses; the chamfered underbowl appears to have floral motifs, but all very shallow, as if it had been re-tooled at some point in the past; the stem, on the other hand, has a deeply-carved assortment of motifs that starts with Tudor roses under which are niches topped by pinnacles, with pinnacles also on the buttresses, just as on the basin, and moulded lower down. The font stands on a wide and tall octagonal plinth, at the west end of the nave.