St George, South Acre, Norfolk

I Location

Site Location
South Acre
National Grid Reference
TF 809 142
County
traditional: Norfolk
now: Norfolk
Diocese
medieval: East Anglia
now: Norwich
Dedication
medieval: not confirmed
now (or name of monument): St George
Type of building/monument
Parish church

II General Description

General view.

General view.

The present church, consisting of a chancel, nave, N aisle and a rectangular W tower the same width as the nave, is substantially 14thc. in date and has an impressive hammerbeam roof. The font is the only feature with Romanesque sculpture.

V Furnishings

1. Fonts

Font, NW corner.

Font, NW corner.

(i)

Located at the W end of the nave. The monolithic, square basin has the initial appearance of a triple-scallop capital with necking, as each face of the font has three cones with plain shields. The adjacent, outermost cones on each face form pseudo-cushion capitals with angle tuck. The central cone on each face is flanked by wedges. Four colonnettes support the pseudo-capitals, and a thick central column supports the main body of the bowl. Each colonnette has a simple hollow-chamfered base on a square plinth. The entire structure is supported on a shallow, square plinth. Of shelly limestone.

There are traces of dark green paint on the colonnettes, basin and plinth, and coarse diagonal tooling on the basin. The condition of the font is good, with slight damage to the continuous cinquefoil ‘necking’ around the lower edge of the basin.

Dimensions

total h. 0.99m
circ. of colonnettes 0.42m
circ. of central support 1.54m
w. of plinth 0.74

VII History

South Acre is located in the Hundred of South Greenhoe. At the time of DS, Godric the steward had charge of it for the king.

VIII Comments/Opinions

The green pigment, if original, may have been an attempt at simulating a more prestigious material, such as Tournai marble. The font at Hunstanton is similar in design, though a little more elaborate.

IX Bibliography

  • Domesday Book: Norfolk, P. Brown (ed.), London and Chichester, 2 vols, 1984.
  • N. Pevsner and B. Wilson, The Buildings of England: Norfolk: North-West and South, Harmondsworth, 1962, revised 1999, 2:659.
  • F. Bond, Fonts and Font Covers, London, New York, and Toronto, 1908, 151, 294.