Upavon / Oppavrene

There is an entry for Upavon [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SU1355/upavon/] [accessed 8 February 2018]; it reports "2 churches. 3.25 church lands" in it. There is a watercolour of thsi font by John Buckler (1770-1851). The font is noted in Holmes (1922): "The Norman font with its archaic carving". Described in Buck (1951) as a notable example of octagonal font with Norman carving, which he dates to the late twelfth or early thirteenth century. Buck (ibid.) gives a detailed description of the decorative programme, and further notes that "The centre stem , four plain outer shafts, octagonal base and plinth date from 1875. In 1810 the bowl was shown in Buckler's drawing raised on a square pedestal" [NB: Buck refers to William Buckler's architectural drawings, later used in many publications; many of the originals are at the Bodleian in Oxford and the BL in London]. Described in Nordström (1984) as a late-12th or early-13th century baptismal font with "the same motif" as the Mary & Gabriel scene found in the Lower Halstow lead font. The Victoria County History (Wiltshire, vol. 10, 1975) notes: "A church belonging to the abbey of St. Wandrille stood at Upavon in 1086. [...] The church of St. Mary, so dedicated by 1308 [...] The 12th-century chancel, 13th-century nave with north and south aisles, and the late-13th-century west tower were probably the products of a continual building programme [...] The church contains an octagonal Norman font. It has considerable ornamentation on the outer sides including an Annunciation." Noted in Pevsner & Cherry (1975): "Font. Octagonal, Norman, with an Annunciation, as remarkable iconographically as stylistically, a lion, a leopard (?), flower patterns, etc." Described and illustrated in the CRSBI (2018): "The building contains an octagonal, elaborately carved late 12th-century font [...] The font is octagonal in plan and sits on a 19th-century base. Each of the rectangular panels is carved with a different motif in shallow relief. The panels are as follows: N Face – The Annunciation; NE Face – foliate pattern with four tendrils; E Face – cross in a circle with leaves in the corner and between the arms of the cross; SE Face – four tendrils leading to leaves; S Face – a neat cross, with pairs of tendrils leading to three- and four-lobed leaves; SW Face – lion and plants in the shape of fleur de lys; W Face – a lion and what may be a gryphon; NW Face – saltire cross, linear pattern [...] The carving of the font, although ambitious in iconography, is not carved with great skill." On-site notes: eight motifs ornament the octagonal bowl: starting on the west side, moving left to right, panel 1 (west) shows a lion and manticore (?) [identified in Buck (1951) as a leopard standing on a dragon having a jester's head]; panel 2 (southwest) has a lion and several fleur-de-lis below it [identified in Buck (1951) as England conquering France]; panel 3 (south) has cross, panel 4 (southeast) has acanthus motif; panel 5 (east) has a cross with a fleur-de-lis at each end in a circle; panel 6 (northeast) has a four-leaf branch motif; panel 7 (north) Annunciation scene with a vase between Gabriel on the left and Mary on the right; the vase contains a (lily?) plant; panel 8 (northwest) has geometrical motif of a saltire cross with nested chevron and with leaves at four ends. There are four columns with a centre pillar supporting the bowl, and the font stands on an octagonal plinth, all of which is modern, Victorian.