St John the Baptist, Pampisford, Cambridgeshire

I Location

Site Location: Pampisford
National Grid Reference: TL 498 483
County: traditional: Cambridgeshire
now: Cambridgeshire
Diocese: medieval: not confirmed
now: Ely
Dedication: medieval: not confirmed
now (or name of monument): St John the Baptist
Type of building/monument: Parish church

II General Description

: Exterior general view from E

Nave with N aisle, chancel, W tower with Hertfordshire spike. Construction is of flint and pebble with ashlar facings. The 12thc. S nave doorway, protected by a porch, has a figural tympanum. Access has not yet been possible, but Pevsner reports a Norman font.

III Exterior Features

1. Doorways

(i) S nave doorway

: S nave doorway, general view

: S nave doorway, upper parts

: S nave doorway, tympanum

: S nave doorway, L capital

Round headed, one order with tympanum but no lintel. The tympanum, a single block, is carved in relief with an arcade of ten bays curving around it, but is otherwise plain. The piers have scribed lines for coursing and low block capitals, and the arches are semicircular. Each bay contains a figure or object, from L to R:

1. A disembodied human head floating under the arch.

2. A standing, clothed male figure facing R with his hand on the R capital of the bay.

3. A disembodied or severed head on the ground between the piers.

4. A simple throne facing R.

5. A frontal standing human figure in a long robe with full sleeves.

6. A standing, male figure with bald head and beard, clothed in a long robe and facing R. He touches the R capital with his L hand while holding an object (rod, flail, sickle?) in his R.

7. A standing, clothed female(?) figure facing L and touching the L capital with an extended hand.

8. A standing clothed figure facing front with each hand resting on the capital alongside.

9. A standing, clothed bearded(?) figure facing L and touching the L capital.

10. A tall, font-like object, narrow in the centre and flaring out at top and bottom.

The first order jambs have replaced nook shafts on modern bases. The L capital has a single volute at the angle and cable necking, the R capital a spidery palmette on the angle and plain necking. Capitals support plain chamfered imposts and a plain arch.

Dimensions

h. of opening	2.31 m
w. of opening	1.08 m
h. of tympanum	0.55 m
w. of tympanum	1.08 m

VII History

In 1086 the largest landholder was the Abbot of Ely with a manor of 2 hides and 3½ virgates. In addtition, 2 knights held 1 hide and 22 acres of Count Alan, Pirot held 5 acres from Eudo fitzHubert, Hardwin de Scales held 1 virgate and 10 acres, Ralph held 3 virgates from Picot of Cambridge, and a priest held half a virgate from Countess Judith.

VIII Comments/Opinions

Browne's identification of the tympanum figures as episodes from the birth and death of St John the Baptist is worth summarising here. He read the scenes from R to L as follows:

1. The altar at which Zacharias burned incense (Luke 1, 9)

2. Zacharias standing before

3. the Angel

4. Herod's daughter dancing before

5. Herod

6. John the Baptist

7. the headsman's block

8. the severed head

9. figure carrying a charger

10. the head rising heavenwards.

In the absence of anything better, or indeed anything else at all, Browne's interpretation must be accepted.

IX Bibliography

M. D. Anderson, History and Imagery in British Churches. London 1971, 85.
G. R. Bossier, Notes on the Cambridgeshire Churches. 1827, 46.
G. F. Browne, "Notes on the Tympanum of the South Door of Pampisford Church, and on the Rectory of Pampisford", Cambridge Antiquarian Society Proceedings and Communications, VI, 1887.
The Ecclesiastical and Architectural Topography of England: Cambridgeshire (Architectural Institute of Great Britain and Ireland), Oxford 1852, 160.
C. H. Evelyn-White, County Churches: Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely. London 1911, 145-46.
F. S. L. Johnson, A Catalogue of Romanesque Sculpture in Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely. M.Phil (London, Courtauld Institute), 1984, 282-84.
C. Keyser, A list of Norman Tympana and Lintels. London 1904, 33.
D. and S. Lysons, Magna Britannia. Cambridgeshire II, pt I, London 1808, 51, 245.
N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England. Cambridgeshire, Harmondsworth 1954 (2nd ed. 1970), 447-48.
The Victoria History of the County of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely, VI, 1978, 112.