Font - St Mary's Church, Church Road, North Creake, Norfolk, NR21 9JJ
Posted by: 
greysman
N 52° 54.296 E 000° 45.323
31U E 349042 N 5864053
Norman in style, modern in execution, with a Gothic cover, quite stunning.
Waymark Code: WMV6CT
Location: Eastern England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/03/2017
Views: 0
This large parish church is Grade I listed and in size more akin to inner city churches. It consists of a chancel, a south porch and south door, c.1300, and a nave, north aisle, and west tower, C15th, and is built of knapped and rubble flint with stone dressings and has lead roofs. There is a Brass in the church of a civilian holding a church as its donor. This is possibly Sir William Calthorpe who claimed in his will (1495) to have rebuilt the church, giving a possible date for the clerestorey and roofs. The church was restored in 1897 by Frederick Preedy, architect, at the bequest of Bishop Lloyd, Rector 1894-1903. Hicks and Charlewood of Newcastle on Tyne made the elaborate carved and painted altar and reredos, and the Decorated style oak carved rood screen.
At the north side of the central aisle in front of the tower arch is the circular Norman style stone font bowl on a six pillared, arched with trifoil heads and inverted cone support, and covered with an elaborately painted and carved Gothic font cover that opens to reveal six beautiful painted panels of Christ life, texts and foliage. The cover is a 3m tall riot of pillars, arches and pinnacles delicately carved and permanently mounted on the rim of the font and able to be opened right up to reveal the bowl.
The central panels show scenes of Christ's life, to the left 'sanctifying the water' with the text 'He sanctified water to the / mystical washing away of sin' and to the right Christ with children, the text reading 'He took them up in his arms. He laid / His hands upon them and blessed them'. Both scenes and texts have strong meaning relating to baptism. The two hinged panels next outwards have texts, to the left 'Suffer it to / be so now for thus it / becometh us to fulfil / all righteousness', and to the right 'Suffer the little / children to come unto / Me and forbid them / not for of such is the / Kingdom of Heaven'. The outer two panels are 'foliage' panels and fixed to the 'text' panels at 120 degrees so that when closed together the font bowl is completely covered in. The whole is mounted on a two-step hexagonal base with an extension to the west for the officiant to stand on.