Guestwick No. 1 / Geystwick / Geghestvert / Geystweyt / Geystweyte / Guistthwaithe?

Blomefield (1805-1810) writes; "The Church is dedicated to St. Peter, and was a rectory, but being granted to the abbey of Waltham, by Eborard de Geiste, was appropriated thereto, and a vicarage appointed;[...] The vicar, by an agreement, with the abbot and convent, was to have all the altarages, and 12 pieces of free land, and one mark rent per ann. the abbot all corn tithe, hay, pulse, &c. the vicar to pay all episcopal and archidiaconal dues, and to keep residence. The church has a nave, with a north and south isle, covered with lead; the chancel and south isle is tiled; the north door has no porch, but an entire holy water-pot is in the wall on the west side. The site of the steeple may seem particular, as it now stands at the east end of the north isle, joining to the chancel, built of Hunstantonrock stone; but it is to be observed, that this belonged to the old church, built in a cathedral or conventual manner, and so was in the midst between the nave and choir, with arches to pass through; in this square tower hangs one bell." [NB: Sir Ralph de Geist[e] was lord of this town in the reign of Henry II [1154-1189], so the dates for Eborard de Geiste, his son, would fall in the late-12th or early-13th century, giving us athe lates date for the church itself]. The font of this church and a holy-water stoup of interest are described in Thomas (1846): "Of the ancient furniture the piscina only remains, in a very mutilated state. [...] The font, a massive octagon, in the Perpendicular style, stands centrally in the nave westward; it is leaded and has a drain. The sculpture represents the emblems of the Holy Trinity together with the bearings of S.S. Peter and Paul, S.S. Andrew and James, and St. George respectively, as also the instruments of the passion. These are the five wounds of Christ, the hammer, nails and pincers, the ladder, the spear, the sponge and the reed, the seamless garment, the purse and the cock. Our forefathers held that the visible emblems of Redemption could neither be too prominently introduced, or too frequently recurred to. The master symbolism of our day is --white-wash! The north door has a water-stoup in the wall on the west side, that opposite a flat grave stone with floriated cross occurring immediately within it." Farrer (1887 [1885?]) notes some of the emblems: "On the Font: XII. The Emblem of the Trinity. -- XIII. Shield of the Passion, A cross; in the first quarter a hammer, in the second three nails, in the third the whip and reed with sponge, and in the fourth the spear and ladder. -- XIV. Two keys in saltire (St. Peter, Gules, two keys in saltire or.) The church is dedicated to St. Peter." Noted in Pevsner & Wilson (1997) as an octagonal font of the 15th century. Noted and illustrated in Knott (2006): the sides of the octagonal basin are decorated with shields in cusped panels, some charged with crosses; moulded underbowl chamfer; octagonal pedestal with mouldings at both ends; splaying octagonal lower base with two volumes, the lowest square. On an octagonal plinth. The wooden cover is plain, octagonal and flat. [NB: we have no information on the font from the original 12th-13th century church here]. [cf. Index entrey for Guestwick No. 2 for a noteworthy stoup listed for this church].