Burston nr. Diss

Blomefield (1805-1810) reports a church "dedicated to the Blessed Virgin [...] a rectory [...] appropriated by John of Oxford, Bishop of Norwich, to Butley priory", with a rector name Wybart before 1299; the said rectory, adds Blomefield (ibid.), "being given them by King Henry I at their founder's request, before he gave the manor to the Fitz-Walters." [NB: Henry I reigned 1100-1135]. Described in Pevsner & Wilson (1999): "C15. Round the stem, not in niches, eight figures, quite good." Illustrated in ACRE [www.acre.org.uk/communityassets_churches_casestudies.html] [accessed 20 July 2009]. The octagonal basin appears plain [has it been re-cut?] but has floral motifs on the underbowl; the carving of protruding figures here is a rare case in fonts of the area; the eight figures, raised on little polygonal pedestals, have had their heads broken off; one of the figures is easily identified as Andrew, the Apostle, by the saltire cross he holds; the font is raised on an octagonal plinth. The wooden cover is a modern abstract rendering of the Jacobean traditional desing; strange.