Wiggenhall St. Germans / St. Germans Wigenhale / Wigenhale / Wigrehale

Standing permission

Results: 14 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

B01: symbol - shield - emblem - St. Peter

Scene Description: tentative identification of the middle panel here

Image Source: digital photograph taken 6 August 2005 by Simon Knott [http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/wiggenhallstgermans/wiggenhallstgermans.htm] [accessed 8 September 2009]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

B02: symbol - shield - emblem - St. Paul

Scene Description: two crossed swords

B03: symbol - shield - emblem - the instruments of the Passion

Scene Description: [cf. Font notes]

design element - motifs - moulding

Image Source: digital photograph taken 6 August 2005 by Simon Knott [http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/wiggenhallstgermans/wiggenhallstgermans.htm] [accessed 8 September 2009]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - motifs - moulding - graded

Image Source: digital photograph taken 6 August 2005 by Simon Knott [http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/wiggenhallstgermans/wiggenhallstgermans.htm] [accessed 8 September 2009]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - motifs - tracery

Scene Description: both on the shield panels and on the alternate ones between them

view of church exterior - southeast view

Image Source: B&W photograph taken 21 August 1976 by George Plunkett [www.georgeplunkett.co.uk/Norfolk/W/Wiggenhall St German's church from SE [5670] 1976-08-21.jpg] [accessed 9 December 2013]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission by Jonathan Plunkett

view of church exterior - southeast view

Image Source: digital photograph taken 6 August 2005 by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/wiggenhallstgermans/wiggenhallstgermans.htm] [accessed 8 December 2013]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church interior - bench-end

Scene Description: Photo caption: "13c bench ends"

Image Source: B&W photograph taken 21 August 1976 by George Plunkett [www.georgeplunkett.co.uk/Norfolk/W/Wiggenhall St German's church bench end [5668] 1976-08-21.jpg] [accessed 9 December 2013]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission by Jonathan Plunkett

view of church interior - nave - looking east

Scene Description: the modern font in the foreground

Image Source: digital photograph taken 6 August 2005 by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/wiggenhallstgermans/wiggenhallstgermans.htm] [accessed 8 December 2013]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church interior - nave - looking northwest

Scene Description: Photo caption: "13c tower arch and 15c arcade" -- the modern font is visible at the west end, by the tower arch

Image Source: B&W photograph taken 21 August 1976 by George Plunkett [www.georgeplunkett.co.uk/Norfolk/W/Wiggenhall St German's church interior west [5669] 1976-08-21.jpg] [accessed 9 December 2013]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission by Jonathan Plunkett

view of church interior - nave - looking west

Scene Description: the modern font in the background, by the tower arch

Image Source: digital photograph taken 6 August 2005 by Simon Knott [www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/wiggenhallstgermans/wiggenhallstgermans.htm] [accessed 8 December 2013]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font

Scene Description: the older font, missing the stem

Image Source: digital photograph taken 6 August 2005 by Simon Knott [http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/wiggenhallstgermans/wiggenhallstgermans.htm] [accessed 8 September 2009]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font and cover

Scene Description: the modern font

Image Source: digital photograph taken 6 August 2005 by Simon Knott [http://www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/wiggenhallstgermans/wiggenhallstgermans.htm] [accessed 8 September 2009]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

INFORMATION

FontID: 15261WIG

Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Germaine

Church Patron Saints: St. Germaine

Church Location: Lynn Road, Wiggenhall St. Germans, Norfolk PE34 3EU

Country Name: England

Location: Norfolk, East Anglia

Directions to Site: Located 6-7 km S of King's Lynn

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Ely

Historical Region: Hundred of Freebridge

Font Location in Church: In the S aisle [not its original position]

Century and Period: 14th - 15th century, Decorated? / Perpendicular?

Workshop/Group/Artisan: heraldic font

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Simon Knott, of www.norfolkchurches.co.uk, for his photographs of this church and fonts; we are also grateful to Jonathan Plunkett for the photographs of this church taken by his father, George Plunkett, in August 1976

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

There are two entries for Wiggenhall [variant spellings] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/XX0000/wiggenhall-st-germans-st-mary-magdalen-st-mary-th/] [accessed 9 December 2013]; the largest part had Ralph Baynar as tenent-in-chief at the time, the smaller one was in the lordship of Hermer de Ferrers [aka Hemerus de Ferrariis, etc.]; neither entry mentions a church or cleric in it. Blomefield (1805-1810) appears to have missed the Domesday entry for the larger part: "The whole that the survey mentions of them is this; that Hermeru [...] de Ferrarijs had invaded or ejected a freeman out of half a carucate of land that he held in Wigrehale in King Edward's time valued at 3s. per ann. and of him he had not the protection, was not lord of the fee; [...] and which of the Wigenhales this was does not appear. The reason of this must be that the Wigenhales being parts or members of several adjoining lordships and villages, are accounted for and valued under them, (as is frequently found in the survey) or that the greatest part of the Wigenhales were at that time again overflowed, a standing pool or lake, and rendered quite unprofitable and neglected by their old lords or owners." Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "William de Scohies had considerable lordships in Islington, and in Clenchwarton, at the survey, that extended, as it seems, into this town, and soon after came to Walter Giffard Earl of Buckingham, whose son Walter, and his Countess, gave to the monks of the church of Norwich, serving God at Lenn, [...] the church of St. German's of Wigenhale, together with a certain payment". This Walter, the son, would be the 2nd Earl of Buckingham, married to Ermengarde, who became countess at the marriage; Walter died in 1164 [source: http://thepeerage.com/p18737.htm#i187364 [accessed 9 December 2013]. Blomefield (ibid.) adds thar the church had originally been a rectory, but became a vicarage at the time of John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich [+1214]: "The Church is dedicated to St. German, was formerly a rectory [...] It consists of a nave, and a south isle covered with lead, and a north isle with tiles, and a chancel [...] The tower is four square, and there are 4 bells." Chambers (1829) notes: "On the font are keys in saltire, the arms of St. Peter." Lewis' Dictionary of 1870 has, in its entry for Wiggenhall St. Peter: "on the font are two cross keys, an emblem of the patron saint". Farrer (1885) has: "Shields on the Font: I. Two keys in saltire, St. Peter. -- II. Two swords in saltire, St. Paul. -- III. Shield of the Passion." Pevsner & Wilson (1999) mention "C14 tracery panels to the bowl and stem", but not the emblems on the shields. The old font and its Victorian replacement are noted and illustrated in Knott (2005): "There are two fonts; a rather robust 19th century stone one on marble pillars, and its medieval predecessor relegated to the floor in the south aisle." [NB: the old basin appears to have lost its original stem and rests directly on its splaying lower base; the shields appear now [2005] too worn for the identification of the emblems, but one of the shields shows clearly a saltire, either the two swords of Paul of the two keys of Peter; Chambers' and Farrer's identification was probably accurate enough; what is not clear is whether or not there were two fonts with St. Peter's emblem: one at Wiggenhall St. Peter and another at Wiggenhall St. Germans', the latter with additional emblems as noted in Farrer above; also, is there a fourth shield and emblem?].

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 52.70405, 0.34089

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 52° 42′ 14.58″ N, 0° 20′ 27.2″ E

UTM: 31U 320345 5842667

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone

Font Shape: octagonal (mounted)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal

REFERENCES

Blomefield, Francis, An essay towards a topographical history of Norfolk, 1805-1810

Chambers, John, A General History of the County of Norfolk, intended to convey all the information of a Norfolk tour […], Norwich: J. Stacy, 1829

Farrer, Edmund, The Church Heraldry of Norfolk, a description of all coats of arms […] now to be found in the county […], Norwich: A.H. Goose and Co., 1885-1893

Knott, Simon, The Norfolk Churches Site, Simon Knott, 2004. [standing permission to reproduce images received from Simon (February 2005]. Accessed: 2009-09-08 00:00:00. URL: www.norfolkchurches.co.uk.

Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England, Comprising the Several Counties, Cities, Boroughs, Corporate and Market Towns, Parishes, Chapelries, and Townships, and the Islands of Guernsy, Jersey, and Man, with Historical and Statistical Descriptions [...], London: S. Lewis, 1831

Pevsner, Nikolaus, Norfolk 2: North-West and South (2nd ed.), London: Penguin, 1999