North Lopham / Lopham Magna

Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "what this town's name signifies, I know not, and which is remarkable, it never altered its spelling from the Conqueror's time to this day, for in Domesday [...] we find it the same. In the Confessor's time Lopham was two distinct towns and different manors, Lopham-Magna, now North Lopham, [...] and the other Lopham, called afterwards LophamParva, and now South Lopham, belonged to Alsius [...] This Alsius had a manor in Norton, which in the Conqueror's days he joined to this, making it a berewic to it, after which it came into the Conqueror's hands, who gave them to Roger Bygot Earl of Norfolk, who joined the two Lophams [...] from this time Lopham hath continued as one manor to this day, though they are two distinct parishes, each having their separate bounds and officers. [...] North Lopham Church is dedicated to St. Andrew the Apostle; the tower is square having five bells in it; it was begun to be rebuilt about 1479, for then Thomas Jente, who was buried here, gave 4 marks towards its building; but was not finished till about 1526". Robert of Cantauria, or Canterbury, is the first rector recorded in Blomefield (ibid.), appointed in 1332 but died soon thereafter: ""This Robert de Cantuaria was chaplain to King Edward II. rector of Lopham, archdeacon of Essex, prebend of Cumb in the church of Wells, and of Mapesbury in St. Paul's church, London, 1331, and died about 1333". There is no mention of a font in this church in Blomefield's entry for either North or South Lopham churches. A font here is described in Pevsner & Wilson (1999): "C14. Octagonal, with tapering sides and shallow, elegantly cut tracery motifs (cf. South Lopham). The stem has rolls and flutes. The cover is C17." Illustrated in Knott (2005), who writes: "The 15th century tracery font is almost exactly the same as the one at South Lopham". The font is raised on a modern quadrangular plinth. The wooden cover consists of a flat octagonal base and eight vertical scroll ribs converging at the finial.