Baptism Font - St Mary the Virgin - Christon, Somerset - Stone Church Artefacts on Waymarking.com

Norman baptism font in St Mary the Virgin, Christon. A 12th century font, square with cross and chevron decoration on three sides, which stands on a plain circular capital on a plinth.

"Located at the NW angle of the SE part of the nave, thus unusually to the E of the S door, the font has room to the W and N and a little to the S. The decoration on the N and W faces of the bowl is easily enjoyed, but that on the S face is not so easy to appreciate. Resting directly, without a plinth, on the Victorian floor, the base is a rectangular block with chamfered upper surface. The stem, in two very unequal blocks, is cylindrical. Above a large roll, the bowl is a square tub; the three decorated sides carry their exquisite designs within border rolls. The S face carries several adjacent saltires. The W face carries five very fine scallops separated by sharply angular darts (the scallops having fine blank and flat mouths joined in their upper halves to form a strong connection at the top of the face). The N face consists of two very fine saltires, or stars, separated bya shallow roll. All the decoration on the font is executed with a confident sense of overall design, an awareness of how to balance variety with homogeneity, and a highly polished finish (evident in the tooling detail). It is unfortunate that the font no longer has any lead. Metal remnants at the centre of all four sides of the rim may be evidence of previous lock-fittings. It will be seen that there is a circular basin at the centre of the bowl’s floor.
Dimensions -
1
Depth of bowl 0.28m excluding central depression of 0.185m
Height of base 0.165m
Height of bowl 0.06m + 0.1m + 0.285m = 0.445m
Height of stem 0.265m
Overall height of font 0.85m
2
Circumference of stem 1.04m
External diameter of bowl 0.57m
Interior diameter of bowl 0.405m"

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Relevant Website: [Web Link] Approximate Age of Artefact: Not listed

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