Minstead / Menestede / Mintestede

PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

Results: 19 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

Christ - Agnus Dei - passant - with cross and banner

Scene Description: on the east side of the basin -- photographed here from the southeast side [NB: this side of the font is very close to the wall and therefore difficult to photograph] -- the Agnus Dei is passant to the right, one of the front legs holding up the bottom of the croos and banner pole in the characteristic position

Image Source: digital image of a detail of a photograph taken by Ron Baxter, in the CRSBI [www.crsbi.ac.uk/site/4590/] [accessed 15 February 2015]

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

Christ - Agnus Dei - passant - with cross and banner - detail

Scene Description: on the east side of the basin -- photographed here from the northeast side [NB: this side of the font is very close to the wall and therefore difficult to photograph] -- the Agnus Dei is passant to the right, one of the front legs holding up the bottom of the croos and banner pole in the characteristic position

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken by Ron Baxter, in the CRSBI [www.crsbi.ac.uk/site/4590/] [accessed 15 February 2015]

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

New Testament - public life of Christ - baptism of Christ

Scene Description: on the west side of the basin

Image Source: digital photograph taken 9 July 2013 by Timothy Marlow

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (letter of 26 October 2013)

New Testament - public life of Christ - baptism of Christ - detail

Scene Description: on the west side of the basin

Image Source: digital photograph taken 9 July 2013 by Timothy Marlow

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (letter of 26 October 2013)

New Testament - public life of Christ - baptism of Christ - detail

Scene Description: on the west side of the basin

Image Source: digital photograph taken 9 July 2013 by Timothy Marlow

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (letter of 26 October 2013)

animal - bird - dove or eagle?

Scene Description: on the south side of the basin

Image Source: digital photograph taken 9 July 2013 by Timothy Marlow

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (letter of 26 October 2013)

animal - mammal - lion - passant-gardant - bi-corporate

Scene Description: on the north side of the basin

Image Source: digital photograph taken 9 July 2013 by Timothy Marlow

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (letter of 26 October 2013)

animal - mammal - lion - passant-gardant - bi-corporate

Scene Description: on the north side of the basin

Image Source: digital photograph taken 9 July 2013 by Timothy Marlow

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (letter of 26 October 2013)

symbol - tree - Tree of life?

Scene Description: on the south side of the basin

Image Source: digital photograph taken 9 July 2013 by Timothy Marlow

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (letter of 26 October 2013)

view of basin - upper view

Scene Description: the flower pot is standing here on the metal insert supported by a wooden frame

Image Source: digital photograph taken 9 July 2013 by Timothy Marlow

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (letter of 26 October 2013)

view of basin and cover

Image Source: digital photograph 24 March 2023 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 3 September 2023)

view of church exterior - south view

Image Source: digital photograph taken 6 November 2008 by Trish Steel [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1038189] [accessed 5 August 2011]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of church exterior - southwest view

Image Source: digital photograph 24 March 2023 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 3 September 2023)

view of font

Image Source: digital photograph taken 6 November 2008 by Trish Steel [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1036739] [accessed 5 August 2011]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of font - northwest side

Scene Description: columns, lower base and plinth are modern

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken by Ron Baxter, in the CRSBI [www.crsbi.ac.uk/site/4590/] [accessed 15 February 2015]

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of font - west side

Image Source: digital photograph taken 9 July 2013 by Timothy Marlow

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (letter of 26 October 2013)

view of font in context

Image Source: Digital reproduction of a 1908 B&W original print by Henry Taunt, in the Henry W. Taunt Collection, Centre for Oxfordshire Studies

Copyright Instructions: No known copyright restriction – Fair Dealing

view of font in context

Image Source: digital photograph taken 6 November 2008 by Trish Steel [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1036958] [accessed 5 August 2011]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of font in context

Image Source: digital photograph 24 March 2023 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 3 September 2023)

INFORMATION

FontID: 00198MIN

Church/Chapel: Parish Church of All Saints

Church Patron Saints: All Saints

Church Location: Church Ln, Minstead, Hampshire SO43 7GE, United Kingdom

Country Name: England

Location: Hampshire, South East

Directions to Site: Located off (S) the A31, W of the A337, 3 km N of Lyndhurst, in the New Forest, 13 km W of Southampton

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Winchester

Historical Region: Hundred of Boldre [in Domesday] -- Hundred of New Forest

Font Location in Church: Inside the church, S side, W of the chancel arch, by the pulpit

Date: ca. 1200?

Century and Period: 12th - 13th century [basin only], Medieval / composite

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Timothy Marlow and to Colin Smith for their photographs of this font

Church Notes: According to Jenkins (2000: 251) Arthur Conan Doyle, the writer, and his wife are buried in the churchyard here

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

There is an entry for Minstead [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SU2811/minstead/] [accessed 15 February 2015], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. The font here is listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as Norman, ornamented with figured sculpture. Two photographs of this font, taken by Henry Taunt, 1908, can be found the Centre for Oxfordshire Studies [source: http://viewfinder.english-heritage.org.uk with references HT10931 and HT10932]. The Victoria County History (Hampshire, vol. 4, 1911) notes: "The first mention of a church in Minstead is in 1272 [...] the font belongs to the latter part of the 12th century [...] The font stands in front of the pulpit and has a square Purbeck marble bowl with four restored angle shafts, stem and base. On its west face is our Lord's Baptism, on the east an Agnus Dei, on the north a lion with two bodies and a single head, and on the south two eagles having what may be a conventional tree between them. The surface is a good deal damaged, as the font has been buried in a garden." Tyrrell-Green (1928) describes it as an early baptismal bowl cast out to the parsonage stable but later recoverd and restored to its "sacred use". Historic England [Listing NGR: SU2593709486] (1959) dates to ca. 1200. Nordström (1984) mentions a representation of the Baptism of Christ on this font, which is also identified by Jenkins (2000), who adds that "the font appears to be pre-Norman". An illustration in Tisdall (1998) shows a badly worn side of the basin; the caption reads: "A double headed eagle, a dove? and a Tree of Life? Two symbols of the Holy Spirit". Betjeman (1958) notes an Agnus Dei on the side of the basin. The Rev. Peter Murphy, Rector of the three parishes in the New Forest [of which Minstead is part] described the font in a BBC interview [www.bbc.co.uk/southampton/features/newforest/for[...]]: "At Minstead we have a Saxon font. To keep it safe it was buried for more than 200 years in the Vicarage garden, then discovered after the Reformation, by an Abbott who was digging the shrub bed when his spade struck the edge. You can see where the damage has been repaired. The font was returned to the church in 1893." Described and illustrated in the CRSBI (2015): The faces of the font have been variously identied. The W is identified as Christ with the Cross and two assistant figures by Pevsner and Lloyd, and Our Lord’s baptism by VCH. For the S, Pevsner has stylized eagles, while VCH has two eagles having what may be a conventional tree between them. Both are agreed the the N face is carved with two lions with one head, and that the E has an Agnus Dei. Pevsner and Lloyd note that the position of the font in front of the pulpit was more usual in pre-Tractarian times (i.e. before the 1830s) than now. They date the font to the late 12thc as does VCH, while EH prefers c.1200. [...] The bowl is carved in relief on all four faces, but is set so close to the pulpit that the E face is difficult to see and all but impossible to photograph." The font, which is of the Romanesque table-top type, consists of a quadrangular [the CRSBi gives the measurements as 65 x 66 cm] basin with carved sides; the north side has a bi-corporal lion; the south side has a tree between two birds; the east side has a quadruped with staff and banner, likely an Agnus Dei; the west side has the figure of Christ holding a processional cross (?) in his right hand, a book in the left, while his body is covered from the waist down by the traditional representation of the waters of the Jordan; he is accompanied by two figures; the one on the right is in profile, wearing a cape or mantle (?) and raising an object towards Christ's head; the figure on the left is a winged angel; despite the crudeness and erosion of the carving, the combination is likely to represent the baptism of Christ in the Jordan; the base consists of a central shaft and four outer columns, and the square combination lower base-plinth usually found in this type of font; all the components of the base are modern replacements. No font cover present. Noted in Leach (1975) as a font made of Purbeck marble: "bowl with the Baptism of Christ, the Agnus Dei, a lion with two bodies and two eagles flanking a conventional tree on its respective faces; lower parts of central stem and subsidiary shafts restored" [source given: G.C. Dunning]

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 50.896541, -1.601953

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 50° 53′ 47.55″ N, 1° 36′ 7.03″ W

UTM: 30U 598316 5639251

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, limestone (Purbeck marble)

Font Shape: square (mounted)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: square

Drainage Notes: no lining

Diameter (inside rim): 51.5 cm*

Height of Basin Side: 35 cm*

Trapezoidal Basin: 65 x 66 cm*

Notes on Measurements: * CRSBI (2015)

REFERENCES

Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. Accessed: 2011-08-05 00:00:00. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.

Betjeman, John, An American's Guide to English Parish Churches (including the Isle of Man), New York: McDowell, Obolensky, 1958

Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland. Accessed: 2015-02-15 00:00:00. URL: http://www.crsbi.ac.uk.

Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907

Jenkins, Simon, England's Thousand Best Churches, London and New York: Allen Lane, the Penguin Press, 1999 [2000 rev. printing]

Leach, Rosemary, A Investigation into the use of Purbeck Marble in Medieval England, Hartlepool: E.W. Harrisons & Sons, 1975

Nordström, Folke, Mediaeval Baptismal Fonts: An Iconographical Study, Stockholm: Universitetet i Umeå, 1984

Tisdall, M. W., God's beasts: identify and understand animals in church carvings, England: Charlesfort Press, 1998?

Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928