West Dereham No. 1 / Dereham / Derham / West Derham

Blomefield (1805-1810) writes; "Derham, St. Andrew's Church. There were in ancient days two churches in this town, that of St. Andrew, and that of St. Peter; that of St. Andrew is (as I conceive) the church now standing; and west of this church, in the churchyard, the site of that of St. Peter's may be perceived. It is a single pile, built of flint and other stone, in length about 52 feet, and in breadth about 20, with a chancel about 33 feet long, and 20 broad, covered with thatch. At the west end of the church is a large round tower of stone, found in pits in this neighbourhood, and called rag-stone, and on that is raised an octangular one of brick, embattled and coped with free-stone; on the decay of the old tower, in the reign of Henry VI. as I take it. On the summit is a cap or cover, with a weather cock; and in this tower hang 4 large modern bells." The baptismal font here is described in Pevsner & Wilson (1999): "Octagonal, Perp[endicular], with quatrefoils." Illustrated in Knott (2009). The basin appears to be the only original part of the font, and it is quite battered, especially at the upper rim places where the old metal staples have been removed; the plain pedestal base and the lower base are probably 19th-century; the quadrangular plinth may be original. [NB: the original church was Norman; two other churches existed in West Dereham: St. Peter's and the church of the Premonstratensian abbey of the 12th century; we have no information on the fonts from those buildings]