Thorpe Salvin / Torp

There is an entry for Thorpe [Salvin] [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SK5281/thorpe-salvin/] [accessed 21 February 2015], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Our first recorded entry for this font is a letter from Richard Holden of August 8, 1795 published in Archaeologia (vol. XII: [207]-208), offering "some explanation of the drawing of the font at Thorpe Salvin, Yorkshire, which by the condescension of his Grace the Duke of Leeds, has been lately communicated to the Society". Mr Holden's explanation is not very successful; he begins by saying that "the sculptor himself had no other idea than a few devices purely symbolical"; he then proceeds to identify the baptismal scene, and simply describe the other scenes and motifs, and ends up saying that "the sculptor's invention was exhausted, or his story was told; for the remainder is filled up with an odd unintelligible thing by way of ornament, and some beautiful pillars with capitals and arches interwoven." Holden (ibid.) gives a Saxon origin to the carving, "probably contemporary with the church itself". A second letter, submitted by "Francis Douce, Esq." and dated December 15, 1795 (ibid., p. [209]-210) offers an added explanation of the drawings: like Holden, Douce identified the baptismal scene; then he goes on to suggest that the Four Seasons are represented in the four compartments to the right because "the sculptor's design was to intimate, that the baptismal rite might be performed at all times of the year [...] Among our Saxon ancestors, baptism was required to be administered within nine, or sometimes within thirty, days, under a certain penalty." Douce (ibid.) is also inclined towards a Saxon dating. Langdale (1822) notes on the church document the font: "In the interior is a very curious stone font, upon which are cut in alto relievo, in compartments, the following figures, representing the seasons of the year. Winter is figured by an old man warming himself before a fire in a chimney. Spring, by one riding out a hawking; Summer by a man reaping corn and bundling it up into sheaves; and Autumn, by a husbandman sowing seed. The other compartments exhibit the ceremony of Baptism with the parents and sponsors." The font is described and illustrated in Hunter (1828-1831), who notes that this font "formerly stood opposite the principal entrance, but it has lately been removed into the eastern part of the church". Hunter (ibid.) identifies the ceremony of baptism and the four seasons of the year. Noted in Lewis (1831) as a noteworthy baptismal font "of ancient date and curious workmanship", in Moule (1837) and in Lewis' Dictionary of 1848 as "a font of large dimensions with sculptured representations of the seasons". Noted in Glynne's visit to this church probably in 1841 (in Butler, 2007). Lawton (1842) refers its readers to Hunter's South Yorkshire, for details on the font. A visit of the Lincoln Diocesan Architectural Society to this church on 8 June 1860, reported in The Gentleman's Magazine (issue of July-Dec, 1860), described the font as "one of the most remarkable in England" and, whereas the members did not hesitate to note that "one compartment represented the "sacrament of baptism, and in the other parts were emblems of the four seasons [..] there was greater difficulty in the interpretation of the remaining devices". Romilly Allen (1883-1884), too, notes a baptismal scene on this font. Reported and illustrated in Armitage (1905), who describes it as "a most valuable specimen of Norman sculpture" and notes "representations of the sacrament of baptism" on its sides. Described in Cox & Harvey (1907): "By far the most interesting of the Norman fonts [of this Riding]. It is cylindrical and arcaded, with figures in high relief. Among them the four seasons are sculptured, namely, a man sowing corn representing spring; a man on horseback, summer; a man reaping corn, autumn; and a man warming himself, winter. Another scene on this font is that of the rite of baptism". Morris (1932) has it as a "magnificent Trans[itional] font [...] fit to be included with the incomparable sculptured group of the Wolds" [i.e., East Yorkshire], and points out that not all the arches of the arcade include carved elements. In Pevsner (1986 c1967) as "among the most interesting Norman fonts in the country", although the decorations "doo not make a consistent whole". In Wood (1999). In Harman & Pevsner, with date in the 12th century. On-site notes: the east, south and northern sides of the basin have an arcade with seven arches; starting on the south side in two arches is a baptismal scene; the central column of the two arches is right through the centre of the font; to the left of the font is a tonsured bishop or cleric; four figures stand to the right of the font under the second arch; the third arch contains one scene (east side) of a man harvesting with sheafs of grain standing in the background. In the next arch to the right is a man on horseback holding a palm branch in the air. In the next arch to the right of this scene, is a man holding a basket of produce; iIn the last arch is a man, seated warming his feet at a hearth. After the baptismal scene is the representation of the four seasons - Winter is a man warming himself, Spring is the sower scattering seeds from a basket - Summer is the man on horseback(?) and Autumn is the reaper and bound bundles of sheaf. On the west side of the font against the wooden panel is a simple panel with arcading but no figures are carved on this. There is a central drainage hole. There is evidence that a lid was once attached to the bowl. The church is generally dated to the Norman period, and fonts with the Four Season motif are found in the 13th century.