Norman Font - All Saints - Naseby, Northamptonshire
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SMacB
N 52° 23.812 W 000° 59.340
30U E 636824 N 5807082
A circular late 12th century font, with blank arcading with flower decoration in All Saints' church, Naseby.
Waymark Code: WM1064T
Location: East Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/05/2019
Views: 1
"All Saints' has an aisled and clerestoreyed nave with four-bay arcades. The three eastern bays of the S arcade are early 13thc., with quatrefoil piers and stiff-leaf capitals. The W bay is 14thc. and was added at the same time as the tower. The four-bay Narcade and the Naisle windows are of c.1320. The arcade also has quatrefoil piers, but with moulded capitals. The lower parts of the N arcade piers were encased in neo-classical plinths, perhaps in the 18thc. The nave has N and S doorways under porches. The present chancel dates from 1830. The W tower is 14thc. in its lower parts and Perpendicular above. The original spire was left unfinished, and the present one, recessed behind a battlement and equipped with three rows of lucarnes and a liberal application of crockets, dates from the restoration of 1859-60 by W. Slater. The only Romanesque sculpture is found on the font.
In the S aisle, W of the S doorway. The bowl is cylindrical with a heavy chamfered projection marking its lower rim, and the surface carved with arcading in 12 round-headed bays. The capitals are simple trapezia, and in the arch spandrels are inverted lilies. The bowl is lined with lead, the lining turned over the rim. Each bay of the arcade is carved with a simple floral motif, described below, starting at the E and going anticlockwise.
Bay 1 (E). Cross patonce
2. Square flower with a pair of short petals at each angle, projecting like angle buttresses, and a circular central boss.
3. Daisy with large central boss.
4. Wheel-like circular flower with four petals, apparently rotating.
5. Drilled quatrefoil within a quatrefoil.
6. As 4 but with six petals.
7. Daisy with central boss and eight rotating petals surrounded by an annular rim.
8. Octofoil with fluted petals with scalloped edges and drilled centre.
9. As 4 but with five petals.
10. Flattened disc with six radiating petals.
11. As 4.
12. Flattenened disc with eight radiating petals.
The cylindrical pedestal and moulded base are modern.
Dimensions -
ext. diam. of bowl 0.73 m
h. of bowl 0.50 m
int. diam. of bowl 0.53 m
overall h. of font 1.05 m
Comments/Opinions
No similar font appears elsewhere in the county. The floral motifs suggest a date in the second half of the 12thc."
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