St Nicholas, Great Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire

I Location

Site Location: Great Wilbraham
National Grid Reference: TL 548 577
County: traditional: Cambridgeshire
now: Cambridgeshire
Diocese: medieval: not confirmed
now: Ely
Dedication: medieval: not confirmed
now (or name of monument): St Nicholas
Type of building/monument: Parish church

II General Description

: Exterior, general view from N.

An aisleless cruciform church with a 12thc. window on the N side of the nave, but otherwise substantially of the 13thc. with pointed lancets. The crossing tower has been removed and a Perpendicular W tower built instead, as happened at Soham. The S transept once had an E chapel (blocked arch visible). Construction is of flint and pebble. 12thc. sculpture is found on the font.

V Furnishings

1. Fonts

(i)

: Font, general view from NW.

: Font, W face.

: Font, N face.

: Font, E face.

: Font, S face.

At the W end of the nave is a tall, square-bowled font on a square shaft with big stopped chamfers. This stands on a square chamfered plinth and there is a second, modern square plinth, which raises the font to what must be an inconvenient height. The bowl has angle volutes like waterleaf, and on each face is a rectangular raised panel in the centre, and below the rim a deep carved band with a different design on each face as follows:

W face: a fillet snaking slalomwise between raised semicircles.

N face: a double zigzag.

E face: a row of chip carved saltires with a sexfoil in a circle in the centre and at either end.

S face: as E face but without a central sexfoil. The inner bowl is circular and lead lined. There are repairs at the centre of the W, N and S rims.

Dimensions

overall h. (bowl, shaft and upper plinth)	1.275 m
h. of bowl	0.38 m
w. (E-W)	0.775 m
w. (N-S)	0.775 m
inner diam. of bowl	0.555 m

VII History

In 1086 Great Wilbraham was a demesne vill of the king, with 2 hides of land and unusually income of 2 orae (40 silver pence) from a toll.

VIII Comments/Opinions

Despite the chip carving, the font must belong to the later 12thc., and the chamfered shaft may be original.

IX Bibliography

N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England. Cambridgeshire, Harmondsworth 1954 (2nd ed. 1970), 397.
G. R. Bossier, Notes on the Cambridgeshire Churches. 1827, 75.
The Ecclesiastical and Architectural Topography of England: Cambridgeshire (Architectural Institute of Great Britain and Ireland), Oxford 1852, 172.
C. H. Evelyn-White, County Churches: Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely. London 1911, 194-95.
F. S. L. Johnson, A Catalogue of Romanesque Sculpture in Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely. M.Phil (London, Courtauld Institute), 1984.
F. S. L. Johnson, A Catalogue of Romanesque Sculpture in Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely. M.Phil (London, Courtauld Institute), 1984, 255-60.