Roudham / Roodham / Rowdham / Rudeham / Rudham

Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2006

Standing permission

Results: 3 records

view of basin - fragment

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2006

Image Source: digital photograph October 2006 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/roudham/roudham.htm] [accessed 19 August 2009]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church exterior - southeast view

Scene Description: in ruins since 1783

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2006

Image Source: digital photograph October 2006 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/roudham/roudham.htm] [accessed 27 February 2013]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church exterior - southwest view

Scene Description: in ruins since 1783

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2006

Image Source: digital photograph October 2006 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/roudham/roudham.htm] [accessed 27 February 2013]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

INFORMATION

FontID: 15110ROU
Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Andrew [in ruins since 1783]
Church Patron Saints: St. Andrew
Church Location: Roudham Road, Roudham, Norfolk NR16 2RJ
Country Name: England
Location: Norfolk, East Anglia
Directions to Site: Located 4 km W of East Harling
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Norwich
Font Location in Church: [cf. FontNotes]
Century and Period: 12th - 13th century, Medieval
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Simon Knott, of www.norfolkchurches.co.uk, for his photographs of this font
Blomgfield (1805-1810) writes: "The Church here consisted of one isle only, and a chancel, both which were thatched, having a square tower standing on the south side, which served both as a steeple and porch; it had two bells in it till 1714, and then there was a faculty passed to sell one of them. About two or three years since, as the workmen were repairing the lead on the top of the tower, one of them blew the ashes carelessly out of his pipe, which fell on the thatch, and not being seen in time, burned the church and chancel, so that the walls only are standing, in a ruinous condition, at this time. [...] The rectory of the parish church of St. Andrew in Rowdham was appropriated to the priory at West-Acre, and the priors of that monastery were patrons of the vicarage to the Dissolution." Blomenfield (ibid.) further notes the first reported rector of the parish as "Henry de Swaffham", in 1313. Of the three Domesday entries for this place ["Rudham", fols. 33, 91, 236] cited in Blomefield (ibid.), none mentions a church or priest in them. The fire and destruction of the church is also reported in White's Directory of 1845. Noted as a "Norman font from Roudham, tub-shaped with angle spurs" in Pevsner & Wilson (1999) entry for Bridgham. Knott (2006) writes: "The bell from the tower now sits on the nave floor at Bridgham, along with a font which is very weathered and may well also have been brought from here." The fragment reported by Simon Knott [cf. supra] at Bridgham Church appears to be the lower half of a medieval basin that was originally square at the bottom and rounded at the top with colonnettes at 90-degree angles; there appears to have been carving on the sides and on the colonnettes themselves, but the piece is too worn and damaged to make anything of its surface. There is a hole drilled on the side, near the bottom of the well, which is probably an indication of its use as a farm or garden trough; the basin would have originally had a central drain, most likely].

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 52.447182, 0.877364
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 52° 26′ 49.85″ N, 0° 52′ 38.51″ E
UTM: 31U 355745 5812896

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone
Font Shape: round-to-square (mounted)
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round-to-square

REFERENCES

Blomefield, Francis, An essay towards a topographical history of Norfolk, 1805-1810
Knott, Simon, The Norfolk Churches Site, Simon Knott, 2004. [standing permission to reproduce images received from Simon (February 2005]. Accessed: 2009-08-19 00:00:00. URL: www.norfolkchurches.co.uk.
Pevsner, Nikolaus, Norfolk 2: North-West and South (2nd ed.), London: Penguin, 1999
White, William, History, gazetteer, and directory of Norfolk and the city and County of the city of Norwich [...], Sheffield: Robert Leader, 1845