Kirkby nr. Liverpool / Cherchebi / Karkebi / Kirby / Kirkeby

There is an entry for this Kirkby [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SJ4198/kirkby/] [accessed 6 December 2016], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Butterworth (1841) reports "an antique font" in this church. The edition of Gastrell's 'Notitia cestriensis' edited by Raines (1845- ) has: "The old font is very antique, massive, and sufficiently large for immersion. Its base is decorated with two wreathed bands; and on the sides are several rude figures, supposed to represent Adam and Eve, and the Twelve Apostles." In his first visit to this church, Roberts (1845) [and in a letter to the editor of The Gentleman's Magazine, issue of October 1845: 370)] found the basin of this font "in the corner of a building adjoining the north side of the chapel, where it lay partially covered with planks, ropes, and tools for the sexton's use [...] its sculpture [...] concealed by accumulated coats of white-wash [...]; in an adjoining garden, a part of the base of the Font". Roberts (ibid.) pleaded with the "aged and worthy incumbent, the Rev. Mr. Cort, [...] to have these relics of ancient art removed into the vestry (as he did not entertain the idea of its restoration)". Later on, Roberts (1854) informs that the secretary of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, H.C. Pidgeon, visited Kirkby in July 1853 to execute a drawing of the objects and found that the font had "been carefully placed in its proper situation, by the good taste of the present incumbent, the Rev. R.H. Gray, who has added to it a cylindrical shaft to raise it to a proper elevation." Studying the font, Roberts identified the double coil of serpents, an "allusion to those enemies of the human race -- the World, the Flesh, and the Devil" and, on the sides, an arcade which contains "the history of the fall of man and his redemption" in three of the arches, the third representing "the Saviour as the seed of the woman that should bruise the serpent's head"; in the next seven arches "there are single figures, draped in the costume of the Sacerdotal office slightly varied, consisting of the chasuble, beneath which is the alb. They appear to represent the seven orders of the clergy in the Saxon Church, according to the canons of Ælfric, Archbishop of Canterbury" [i.e., Ostiary, Lector, Exorcist, Acolyth, Sub-Deacon, Deacon and Bishop]. The Antiquary (issue of August 24, 1872: 201) reports a visit to the newly-built church of St. Chad, in Kirby [sic], by the Liverpool Architectural and Archaeological Society; it notes that "at the west end of the church there is a very old font, surrounded with carved stone figures, variously supposed to be of Norman or Early Saxon workmanship." Romilly Allen (1888) writes that "a very early example of arcading is to be seen on the font at Kirkby, near Liverpool". Ellis (1902) makes reference to Roberts [cf. supra] and some of the earlier sources, and give a very detailed description of the iconography on the font, noting the orientation of the scenes and commencing the description on the east side with "the temptation of Adam, wherein Even hands with her left hand the forbidden fruit to her spouse", and proceeding leftwards onto the next compartment with a figure armed with a sword "appears to be directing the trespassers to depart from the garden of Eden"; and so on, following Roberts pattern of description. According to Bond (1908), however, the artlessly made figures of the bowl have led to an early dating, but he argues that the bold relief puts it later than the 11th century: in one scene, Christ bruises the dragon with his staff; the dragon's tail end goes on to envelop the lower part of the bowl and the pedestal as a cable ornament in a gigantic scale; the bowl and base are original but the pedestal is modern; another scene depicts Adam & Eve being expelled from Paradise by an angel armed with a sword. Cox & Harvey (1907) mention two other scenes: Christ riding into Jerusalem and the Temptation of Adam and Eve. The Victoria County History (Lancaster, vol. 3, 1907) notes: "The church of St. Chad succeeds an ancient parochial chapel of unknown origin. [...] The ancient building was replaced in 1766 [...] the present church was [...] consecrated 4 October, 1871 [...] The only relic of antiquity belonging to it is the circular red sandstone font, [...] which dates from the twelfth century, and has on the bowl an arcade of ten round 'arches' enclosing standing figures. The only certain subject is the Temptation of Adam and Eve. Below the bowl is a cable moulding formed of three entwined serpents, and the base has a similar but larger moulding. The shaft is modern." The "Brief History", a pamphlet distributed in this church, informs that the font is either late Saxon or early Norman and that "it was thrown out of the church, probablty at the second re-building in 1766, and used thereafter for a long time as a cistern. [...] It was restored to the church in 1850"; this same source identifies the two serpents coiled below the basin, one with three heads; it also states that the figures located left and right of the centre scene which are of Adam and Eve holding the apple, show the seven orders of the clergy in the Saxon church according to the Canons of Ælfric, Archbishop of Canterbury [cf. supra]. Tyrrell-Green (1928) writes: "Upon the rudely sculptured bowl at Kirkby (Lincs) [sic] the Fall and Expulsion from Eden is shown in this way" [NB: T-G must have meant 'Lancs' instead of 'Lincs', as there is no font in a Kirkby in Licolnshire with a Garden-of-Eden scene]. Noted in Pevsner (1969) as early-Norman: "On the bowl seven Saints, Adam and Eve with the tree and the serpent, the Angel of the Expulsion, and St. Michael spearing a serpent [...]" Pollard & Pevsner (2006) date the font "Early Norman" and give 1880 as the date of its re-installation in the church; they also note the short shaft as modern. On-site notes: the basin well is lined with lead; below the bowl there is a double coil of serpents, forming a cable motif around the lower edge; the cylindrical bowl is mounted on a round , twisted cable base, and the lower part of the base is also a twisted cable; 1)the figure left of Adam & Eve holds up a large sword; 2)the next figure to the left stabs the head of the coiled serpent below; 3)the next left holds a book to his chest; 4)the next left holds a book in the left hand and a short staff in the right hand; 5)figure holds a tall round object (candle? staff? key? spear?) in his right hand; 6)figure holds a staff (?) on the right hand and a rectangular object on his middle; 7)figure holds an open book to his chest; 8)the next figure, just right of the Adam & Eve scene, wears a cape (?) or mantle and holds both hands -perhaps holding a book- to his middle; some of the figures wear a triangular apron-like vestment. If, as the local guide claims, these are a bishop and the seven orders of clergy, their vestments and identifying symbols do not seem to match, but the carving is not fine in the details. A more likely reading for this whole program may be that it reflects different parts of the baptismal rite [i.e., the exorcisms, the consecration of the water and the reading of the prophecies].