Billingford nr. Diss / Billingford St. Leonard / Pirleston / Preleston / Prelestuna

Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "The church is dedicated to St. Leonard; the nave and south porch are tiled, the chancel is thatched; there was a large square tower, which is fallen down, so that it is no higher than the church, is covered in, and hath one bell in it. [...] The font hath the arms of St. Edmund, St. George, and a chevron and chief in one shield, all carved in stone." Blomefield (ibid.) further notes: "In 1267, there was a vicar here, one Walter, at whose death the vicarage was reunited to the rectory, and so it continued a rectory ever since. [...] When Norwich Domesday was made [i.e., 1086], the rector had a house and 10 acres of land; the house stood near the summer-house at the hall, and was long since burnt down, and never rebuilt; the terrier hath 37 pieces of glebe". A baptismal font of the 15th century noted and illustrated in Knott (2005). The font is of the East Anglian type that has angels holding shields alternating with the Evangelists' symbols (or, some times, lions) on the panels of the octagonal basin, and lions [in this case] or woodwooses on the sides of the stem; octagonal plinth. Wooden cover consisting of a plain octagonal base with a small raised Jacobean 'centre-piece' of ribs-around-a-centre-pivot design; 17th-century (?).