The History Of Saint Nicholas' Church Denston

Font

The Seven Sacrament font is one of thirty-six in Norfolk and Suffolk, with only two examples existing elsewhere in England. It is made of stone imported from Normandy in the middle ages. Starting at the east and working clockwise, the panels are as follows: Mass; Penance, in which the priest it sitting in a shriving pew; Confirmation, before an altar; Extreme Unction, the Crucifixion; Ordination; Holy Matrimony; Baptism. The backgrounds to the panels, like those in two other Suffolk churches, are rayed. The angels on the corolla below the bowl are mutilated, as are the heads of the figures on the panels, and it is not possible to determine whether they-are holding special emblems as do the angels on the font at Salle in Norfolk, but they are clothed alternatively in vestments with sleeves, and in capes, below which their feathered arms can be seen - a convention derived from the mystery plays which usually indicated that the archangels were intended. Originally the font was probably painted.