Snettisham / Netesham / Snettesham

There are two entries for Snettisham [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TF6934/snettisham/] [accessed 8 April 2014], neither of which mentions a church a cleric in it. Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "The Church is dedicated to St. Mary, and stands on a hill, at a little distance eastward from the body of the town; it is a stately large building of flint, and freestone, built after a conventual manner, with a tower in the middle, between the nave and the chancel, is now dilapidated; and on this tower is a curious octangular spire of freestone, seen at a great distance, and a sea mark, in which tower hang 5 bells, and ornamented with 4 stone pinnacles. Here was also a north and south transept, but the first of these is in ruins. It has also a north and south isle, with a large nave or body, all covered with lead; at the west end is the grand entrance, where is a vestibulum, with a bench of stone that runs the breadth of the nave, but narrow, and covered with a neat arch, or canopy of freestone. [...] William d'Albini, the pincerna or King's butler, gave in the reign of King Henry I [1100-1135] this rectory to the priory of Windham, and the grant was confirmed by that King", some time after which the rectory became a vicarage, as was the use. The present font here is illustrated on a print from a soft-ground etching made in 1814 by Mary Turner, now in the British Museum collections [ref.: 1871,0610.559 -- PPA358548]. Described in Pevsner & Wilson (1999): "The bowl is C14 or C15. Octagonal with moulded capitals and abaci to connect with the C19 marble supports. Preedy restored it" [i.e., Frederick Preedy, architect and glass painter, 1820-1898]. The basin appears to be of a rather odd design, but it may the be the result of re-carving to fit its lower part to the new base; it may originally have been a plain octagonal block with a chamfered underbowl; the 19th-century base is made of a stone shaft in the centre and eight coloured marble colonnettes at the angles, on a plain octagonal lower base and a two-step octagonal plinth. The wooden cover, too, appears modern.