Long Stratton / Stratton St. Mary / Estratuna / Stratomn / Stratton cum Turri / Stratum / Stratuna

Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: Stratton "originally belonged to the East-Anglian kings, and the superiour jurisdiction over the whole remained in the Crown, till the Conqueror gave it to Alan Earl of Richmond, who held it at the survey [...] Sigebert King of the East-Angles, on his erection of the bishoprick, gave the southern part of the town to Felix, the first Bishop of the East-Angles, and so it became part of the bishoprick; and in the Confessor's time, Bishop Ailmer held it as such [...] The motherchurch of St. Mary the Virgin, always belonged to it, which was probably founded by one of the Bishops that owned it, and that before Ailmar's time [NB: Ailmar, perhaps aka Aethelmar, Agelmar, etc.; 10thC?] [...] the church of which, in all probability, was first founded by [...] Hunfrid or Humfry, the ancestor of the family afterwards sirnamed De Straton, lords of the manors here. [...] The church of St. Mary, commonly in old evidences called Stratton cum Turri, viz. Stratton with the Steeple, (by which it should seem, that anciently the other two churches had none,) was in the patronage of Gilbert de Bourne, when Norwich Domesday was wrote". Pevsner & Wilson (1999) write: "Font. C15 Perp[endicular]. Panelled and traceried stem, bowl with quatrefoils.- Font cover. Jacobean. Very charming and airy. Balusters, volutes and a finial. On the cornice an inscription from St John 3:5." The cover is noted and illustrated, together with the font, in Knott (2006): "intricate font cover. It dates from the early 17th century, and builds to a crown of curling openwork. The legend, in gold around the base, is from St John's Gospel: Except a man be borne of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of God." The font is raised on an octagonal plinth with kneeling stone.