Raveningham / Ravelincham / Ravenincham / Ravenyngham / Ravincham / Ravingaham

One of the Domesday entries for this place, "Ravelincham", lists "a church endowed with 60 acres", which, with other holdings, had been held by "Osbern", a thane of Edward the Cofessor, but was deprived of it and "granted on the conquest, to Roger, son of Renard", as Blomefield (1805-1810) shows in his transcription and translation of the survey; he further notes: "he Church is dedicated to St. Andrew, and was anciently a rectory [...] Jeffrey de Mortimer was rector in the reign of Henry III" [i.e., 1216-1272], and the next rector occurs in 1290. The present font is described in Pevsner & Wilson (1999): "Perp[endicular]. Octagonal. With four lions against the stem and four Saints and the signs of the four Evangelists against the bowl." Noted and Illustrated in Knott (2009): "The 15th century font is one of the best in this part of Norfolk. The evangelistic symbols alternate with seated figures, who I think must be intended to represent Holy Orders of the Church. One appears to be a Bishop, another a Friar - are the others a Priest and a Monk?" Angel heads at the underbowl angles and rosettes on the chamfer sides; between the seated lions of the stem are very thin buttresses textured in the same way as the background on the stem; the base is the usual octagonal-to-square shape. The wooden cover is octagonal, flat and plain, probably modern. [NB: we have no information on the font from the pre-Conquest church here].