South Walsham No. 1 / Walesham

There are five entries for South Walsham [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TG3613/south-walsham/] [accessed 22 May 2014], neither of which mention a church or cleric in it. Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "Ralph de Criketot, and Isabel his wife, and Hubert their son and heir, grant by deed sans date, for the remission of their sins, the church of St. Mary of South Walsham, 100 acres of land in Panchesford, and all their land in Sunderland in this town, to the abbey of St. Bennet of Holme, [...] witnesses, William, son of Herman, Odo, Arbalistar, Osbert de Redeham, &c.; this was in the reign of King Stephen" [i.e., 1135-1154]. Blomefield (ibid.) notes that the vicarage here was settled "on the 5th of April, 1268, on the resignation of Richard de Witton, the rector, who had the right of patronage, from Bishop Suffeld." The church of St. Mary's must have therefore been founded between 1086 and 1154, unless it existed in 1086 but was not mentioned in the survey. The present font is noted in Pevsner & Wilson (1997): "The octagonal bowl is late C14, with tracery and a top band of quatrefoils. Four shafts to stem." The stem appears plain between the attached colonnettes. The font is raised on an octagonal plinth and is located in front of the organ, at the west end of the nave. The wooden cover is octagonal, plain and flat; appears modern. Illustrated in Knott (2004). [cf. Index entry for South Walsham No. 2 for the font in the adjacent Church of St. Laurence]