Chaddesley Corbett / Ceadresleage / Cedeslaeh / Cedeslai / Chaddeslegh Corbett / Cheddesleg / Chedeslea / Claydesle
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Scene Description: the font and cover in May 2009
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © R.J. Higginson, 2009
Image Source: digital photograph taken 29 May 2009 by R.J. Higginson [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Chaddesley_Corbett_03.jpg] [accessed 19 May 2010]
Copyright Instructions: Reproduced under the provisions of the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike licence
view of font
design element - motifs - braid
animal - fabulous animal or monster - dragon - 5
design element - motifs - braid
view of basin
view of church exterior - churchyard, cemetery
view of church exterior - south view
design element - motifs - interlace
view of base
view of basin - detail
view of basin - detail
view of basin - detail
INFORMATION
Font ID: 00255CHA
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Date Visited: 2000-07-18
Font Date: ca. 1160?
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th century (mid?), Norman
Workshop/Group/Artisan: Herefordshire school?
Cognate Fonts: The fonts at Holdgate, Eardisley, Castle Frome and Chaddesley Corbett are related in style
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Cassian
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, in the nave, W end, N side [may have been moved from a different location within the church)
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Cassian [aka Cassyon]
Church Address: Chaddesley Corbett, Worcestershire, DY10 4SD
Site Location: Worcestershire, West Midlands, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located off (N) the A448, near Kidderminster
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Worcester
Historical Region: Hundred of Cresslow [in Domesday] -- Hundred of Halfshire
Additional Comments: altered font: parts of the basin re-tooled/repaired
Font Notes:
Click to view
There is an entry for Chaddesley Corbett [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SO8973/chaddesley-corbett/] [accessed 11 September 2014], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. The font here is noted in Tymms (1834). Moule (1837) notes the font "adorned with rude sculpture, has the appearance of great antiquity". Lewis' Dictionary of 1848 describes this font as "a fine specimen" of the Norman period. It is listed in Romilly Allen (1888) as one of several "bowl-shaped fonts with interlaced work round the stems". Rickman & Parker (1881), with a woodcut by Orlando Jewitt, date it ca. 1140. In mIller (1890) as "Norman, and handsomely carved". Described in Cox & Harvey (1907) as the most important early baptismal font of the county, "of early date, [...] carved all over in low relief with interlacing bands and grotesque serpent-like forms". Described and illustrated in Bond (1908). The Victoria County History (Worcester, vol. 3, 1913) notes: "The font is of red sandstone, circular in shape, and a fine piece of 12th-century work. On the rim of the bowl is a double band of interlaced work, and below this five dragons with knotted tails. The stem has a deep band of interlaced work, and the base a double row of 'Stafford knots.'" Roper (1978) dates the font to ca. 1160. The workmanship is very much in the style of the Herefordshire Norman works of Eardisley and Castle Frome but, as Roper (1978) indicates, without the animated scenes present in the other two. The upper part of the basin sides is covered in a broad band of double-strand tape braid interlace; below it are the inter-twined bodies of five dragons, one of which, if not more, a later restoration (Roper mentions the restoration of the church in 1860). The central ring of the base is a thick single-strand tape braid, while the lower base has other interlace motif ornamentation. There are now [2000] two plinths, a square at top and an octagonal underneath, both later works and both with kneeling stones. Zarnecki (1990) studies the pedigree of some of the animals on this font. Brooks & Pevsner (2007) note: "A superb piece, probably c. 1160-70, an outlier of the Herefordshire school (cf. Norman fonts at Eardisley and Castle Frome)".
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Tim Marlow for his 1985 photographs of this font
COORDINATES
UTM: 30U 557121 5801449
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 52.360347, -2.161189
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 52° 21′ 37.25″ N, 2° 9′ 40.28″ W
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, sandstone
Number of Pieces: three
Font Shape: hemispheric, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round
Drainage System: centre hole in basin
Drainage Notes: lead lined
Rim Thickness: 12-13 cm
Diameter (inside rim): 59-62 cm
Diameter (includes rim): 84-88 cm
Basin Depth: 28 cm
Basin Total Height: 46 cm
Height of Base: 30 cm
Font Height (less Plinth): 76 cm
Font Height (with Plinth): 115 cm
Notes on Measurements: BSI on-site
LID INFORMATION
Date: modern
Material: wood
Apparatus: no
Notes: plygonal and flat, with a small knob finial
REFERENCES
- "Les siècles romans en Basse-Normandie", Printemps 1985, 92, Art de Basse-Normandie, 1985
- Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.
- Allen, J. Romilly, "On the Antiquity of Fonts in Great Britain", XLIV, Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 1888, pp. 164-173; p. 171
- Andrews, Francis Baugh, Memorials of Old Worcestershire, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1912, p. 106
- Betjeman, John, An American's Guide to English Parish Churches (including the Isle of Man), New York: McDowell, Obolensky, 1958, p. 397
- Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 50, 51, 153, 183 and ill. on p. 55
- Bowman, Henry, The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Great Britain from the Conquest to the Reformation, London: J.W. Parker, [1846], vol. VII, i
- Brooks, Alan, Worcestershire, New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2007, p. 219 and fig. 13
- Clapham, Alfred William, English Romanesque Architecture after the Conquest, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1934, p. 155
- Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 227
- Davies, J.G., The Architectural Setting of Baptism, London: Barrie and Rockliff, 1962, p. vii, ix, 61 and fn4, 66, 80, fig. II-a and pl. 19
- Friar, Stephen, The Sutton Companion to Churches, Thrupp, Stroud (Gloucs.): Sutton Publishing, 2003, p. 202
- Jenkins, Simon, England's Thousand Best Churches, London and New York: Allen Lane, the Penguin Press, 1999 [2000 rev. printing], p. 744
- Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England, Comprising the Several Counties, Cities, Boroughs, Corporate and Market Towns, Parishes, Chapelries, and Townships, and the Islands of Guernsy, Jersey, and Man, with Historical and Statistical Descriptions [...], London: S. Lewis, 1831, [www.british-history.ec.uk/report.asp?compid=50864] [accessed 24 January 2007]
- Miller, George [Revd.], The Parishes of the Diocese of Worcester, Birmingham: Hall & English, 1890, vol. 2: 144-146
- Moule, Thomas, The English counties delineated; or, A topographical description of England [...], London: George Virtue, 1837 [vol. 2], vol. 2: 143
- Rickman, Thomas, An Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of Architecture in England, from the Conquest to the Reformation, with a Sketch of the Grecian and Roman Orders, An [7th ed. -- orig. published in 1817], Oxford and London: Parker and Co., 1881, ill. on p. 74
- Roper, John S., History of St. Cassian's Church, Chaddesley Corbett, Worcestershire, Chaddesley Corbett: The Friends of St. Cassian's Church, 1978, p. 6
- Tymms, Samuel, Family Topographer, being a compendious account of the antient and present state of the counties of England: vol. IV, Oxford circuit, London: Nichols & Son, 1834, p. 270
- Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928, p. 53, 57
- Zarnecki, George, "Germanic animal motifs in Romanesque sculpture", 11, 22 (1990), Artibus et Historiae, 1990, pp. 189-203; p. 189-203