Burnham Deepdale Font

The font at the Parish Church of Burnham Deepdale must be one of the most impressive fonts in Norfolk. This Norman font shows the labours of the farming year, month by month.

January: Drinking from a horn February: Warming feet by a fire March: Digging April: Pruning May: Rogation-tide1 banner or possibly Beating the Bounds2 June: Weeding July: Scything August: Binding a sheaf September: Threshing October: Grinding corn in a quern November: Slaughtering December: Feasting

There are three Trees of Life³ on the West side of the font. The top frieze is of large animals (lions?) and foliage.

Notes

Although one of our ancestors William Ives was baptised in the Parish of Burnham Deepdale on 27^th January 1835 it is unlikely he was baptised in this font.

The font was damaged when moved from the North aisle of the church at Burnham Deepdale in 1797 and was taken to Fincham for repair. There it remained for some forty years before being returned to Burnham Deepdale.

¹ Rogation-tide - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday before Ascension Day, observed by Christians as days of solemn supplication for the harvest and marked by processions, special prayers, and blessing of the crops.

² Beating the Bounds - To define the boundaries of a parish by making a procession around them and hitting the ground with rods.

³ Tree of Life - A tree in the Garden of Eden, the fruit of which had the power of conferring eternal life (Genesis 2:9; 3:22).

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