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Thursday 3 November 2011

Historic Baptismal Fonts


Here are three baptismal fonts, just as an illustration of the history all around us. When visiting any church the very fist thing I go to take a look at inside is the font. They are nearly always the oldest part of the church, often pre-dating the rest of the entire building. It is not un-common to find Saxon and early Normal fonts which were re-used when the old church was demolished and a newer replacement constructed later in the middle ages.
The heavy tooling and crude shape and moulding give a clue to the age of these three, as being Norman/Early Medieval.


This one is to be found in St Peter's North Wootton, Somerset, a glorious little church hidden away at the foot of the Mendip Hills a few miles East of Wells.
The detailing in the carving, the chevron shapes in particular clearly define this as a Norman font



This next treasure is a little later and to be found in St. John the Baptist, Pilton, Somerset. This time on the heights of the Mendips in an exposed location with the most stunning views across the Somerset levels to been seen nearby. Legend has it that the boy Jesus came here to buy lead with his uncle Joseph of Arimathea. 'And did those feet, in ancient times, walk upon England's mountains green?'
Anyway, the heavy bowl with a simple round moulding underneath and a simple column typify this font as 12th century.






Finally a couple of photo's of a lovely font of about the same period in St Michael's, Teffont, Wiltshire

The late summer sunlight really shows up the simple heavy tooling on this one, most of these marks have been left by a
 claw chisel, that is a chisel cut along its edge to leave a set of teeth arranged in a row.


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