Topcroft No. 1

Standing permission

Results: 11 records

Click to view images

view of font and cover

Image Source: digital photograph March 2005 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/topcroft/topcroft.htm] [accessed 2 September 2009]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

angel - demi-figure - holding shield - blank - 4

Scene Description: on alternate sides of the octagonal basin

Image Source: digital photograph March 2005 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/topcroft/topcroft.htm] [accessed 2 September 2009]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

animal - mammal - lion - sejant-gardant - 4

Scene Description: on alternate sides of the octagonal basin

Image Source: digital photograph March 2005 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/topcroft/topcroft.htm] [accessed 2 September 2009]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - motifs - moulding - graded

Image Source: digital photograph March 2005 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/topcroft/topcroft.htm] [accessed 2 September 2009]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church exterior - southeast view

Scene Description: the 18th-century brick chancel clearly visible here

Image Source: digital photograph March 2005 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/topcroft/topcroft.htm] [accessed 6 March 2014]]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church exterior - northwest end

Scene Description: Photo caption: "Norman round base of tower with later octagonal storeys above"

Image Source: B&W digital photograph taken 24 September 1994 by George Plunkett [www.georgeplunkett.co.uk/Norfolk/T/Topcroft St Margaret's church tower [7162] 1994-09-24.jpg] [accessed 6 March 2014]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission by Jonathan Plunkett

view of church exterior - southwest view

Scene Description: Photo caption: "The brick chancel dates from 1712" [the chancel is semi-hidden in the photograph]

Image Source: B&W digital photograph taken 24 September 1994 by George Plunkett [www.georgeplunkett.co.uk/Norfolk/T/Topcroft St Margaret's church from SW [7163] 1994-09-24.jpg] [accessed 6 March 2014]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission by Jonathan Plunkett

view of church interior - west end

Scene Description: the font partially visible on the left [south] side -- at the back is the tower door

Image Source: digital photograph March 2005 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/topcroft/topcroft.htm] [accessed 6 March 2014]]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church interior - nave - looking east

Image Source: digital photograph March 2005 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/topcroft/topcroft.htm] [accessed 6 March 2014]]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

animal - mammal - lion - sejant - 4

Image Source: digital photograph March 2005 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/topcroft/topcroft.htm] [accessed 2 September 2009]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - architectural - buttress - pinnacled - 4

Image Source: digital photograph March 2005 taken by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/topcroft/topcroft.htm] [accessed 2 September 2009]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

INFORMATION

Font ID: 15227TOP

Object Type: Baptismal Font1

Font Date: ca. 1435?

Font Century and Period/Style: 15th century (mid?), Perpendicular

Workshop/Group/Artisan: East Anglia font / heraldic font

Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Margaret

Font Location in Church: Inside the church, at the W end of the nave, S side

Church Patron Saint(s): St. Margaret of Antioch [aka Margaret the Virgin, Marina]

Church Notes: round-tower church [three later octagonal storeys on the original round base]

Church Address: Church Road, Topcroft, Norfolk NR35 2BH

Site Location: Norfolk, East Anglia, England, United Kingdom

Directions to Site: Located near Woodton, 8 km WNW of Bungay, 19 km SSE of Norwich

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Norwich

Historical Region: Hundred of Loddon

Additional Comments: disappeared font? (the one from the ca. 1300 church here)

Font Notes: Click to view

There are two entries for Topcroft in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TM2692/topcroft/] [accessed 6 February 2014], but neither mentions a church or cleric in it. Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "The Church is dedicated to St. Margaret. John de Hoo was patron in the reign of Edward I [1272-1307] the rector had then a manse, with 30 acres of land [...] Rectors. In 1316, Mr. Roger de Snetesham instituted, presented by Richard de Sutton, rector of Heveningham; Richard, abbot of St. Edmund's, granted license to him in that year, to assign to John Bishop of Norwich, and his successours, one rood of land, and the advowson of the church, held in capite of the said abbot." Those appear to be the earliest dates available in relation to this church. The present font is described in Pevsner & Wilson (1999): "Perp[endicular], octagonal. Four lions against the stem, thour lions and four demi-figures of angels against the bowl. Money was left for the font in 1435." Noted and illustrated in Knott (2005). The angels on the basin sides are holding blank shields; the frames around the lions on the basin have floral decoration, as is common in many East Anglia fonts of this period; the underbowl of this font does not have the ubiquitous angel heads and rosettes, but makes do with some mouldings; on the stem, between the lions, are the usual buttresses. The font cover is octagonal, flat and plain; appears modern. The font is raised on an octagonal plinth.

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Simon Knott, of www.norfolkchurches.co.uk, for his photographs of this church and font; we are also grateful to Jonathan Plunkett for the photographs of this church taken by his father, George Plunkett, in September 1994

COORDINATES

UTM: 31U 386997 5816501

Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 52.486936, 1.335768

Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 52° 29′ 12.97″ N, 1° 20′ 8.77″ E

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone

Font Shape: octagonal, mounted

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal

LID INFORMATION

Date: modern?

Material: wood

Apparatus: no

Notes: flat and plain; appears modern

REFERENCES

Blomefield, Francis, An essay towards a topographical history of Norfolk, 1805-1810, vol. 10: 185-189 / [www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=78656] [accessed 6 March 2014]
Knott, Simon, The Norfolk Churches Site, Simon Knott, 2004. [standing permission to reproduce images received from Simon (February 2005]. URL: www.norfolkchurches.co.uk.
Pevsner, Nikolaus, Norfolk 2: North-West and South (2nd ed.), London: Penguin, 1999, p. 738