Dorchester nr. Oxford / Dorchecestre / Dorchester-on-Thames / Dorchester abbey

There are three entries for this Dorchester [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SU5794/dorchester/] [accessed 2 November 2014], neither of which mentions a cleric or church in it. The font here is illustrated in Stukeley (1736) [Bodleian, MS Top. Eccles. D.6, f. 11r]. 1773 ink-wash-on-paper drawing by Samuel Hieronymus Grimm (1733-1794) in the British Library [Shelfmark: Additional MS 15545; Item number: f.149]; the font is illustrated on a quadrangular pedestal base decorated with crenellation at the top, and pairs of trefoiled arches on the sides; the cover on the font is pyramidal octagonal, with plains sides and a round finial. Listed in Gough (1792), in Britton (1838) and in Paley (1844) as a baptismal font made of lead. Described in Tymms (1834) as a font "of the time of Birinus, or 7th century, and of cast lead, considered by Stkeley and Gough as the most antient and perhaps only one of its kind in the world". Reported in Lewis' Dictionary of 1848: "The ancient font, partly of lead on a stone pedestal, sculptured with intersecting Norman arches, and with the history of Birinus, is still preserved". The Ecclesiastical and Architectural Topography of England: Oxfordshire (1850) notes: "the font is very curious; its upper part is of lead, with N[orman] arches and figures: it is set on a P[erpendicular] stone base, finished with a battlement, the workmanship of which is not very good." Gardner (1852) writes: "The font supposed by Stukeley and Gough, to be the only one of the kind in the world, is said to be of the time of Birinus". [NB: according to Catholic Encyclopedia [www.newadvent.org/cathen/02578a.htm] [accessed 30 June 2007], St. Birinus, aka Berin, was the first bishop of the diocese of Dorchester (Oxfordshire), apostle of Wessex and died in 650 AD.] Mentioned in The Church Builder (issue no. 47 January 1873: 20). Listed in Cox (1875). In Andre (1882) as Norman. Murray (1882) notes eleven figures on the sides, and dates the base to the Perpendicular period. Lethaby (1893) writes: "It is a very beautiful work, the figures are extremelly well modelled, and the whole in good condition, the lead of great substance." Described and illustrated in Bond (1908), who dates it to the late 12th or early 13th century and states that there are twelve Apostles on it. Kelly's Oxford Directory of 1911 [http://www.historicaldirectories.org/hd/d.asp] [accessed 30 June 2007] states that "the font is Norman work of lead", but notes that, "some, however, have supposed the font to be a relic of the old Saxon church". Described and illustrated in Zarnecki (1957), who dates the font to between 1170 and 1180; he states that: "six different blocks with figures were impressed in the mould, five of them twice", and describes the font as "a highly successful work of High Romanesque art". Ettlinger (1962) states errouneously that it is "lined with lead". In Sherwood & Pevsner (1974): "Of c. 1170. One of the best preserved lead fonts in the country, and the only one belonging to a monastic church to survive the Reformation". Jenkins (1999) writes that "the designs have been traced to workshops in the Bristol area, possibly under the influence of Carolingian craftsmen in Germany." The history of the font is documented and illustrated in Rodwell (2009), who traces the changes in the font and its bases, its moves from one part of the church to another, and other vicissitudes of its long life. An illustration from 1720 reproduced in Rodwell (ibid.), shows the font in the north side area between the tower and the steps to the pewed area east of it; a plan of the church by Orlando Jewit dating from just before the Victorian restoration and reproduced in Addington (1845) shows the font moved to the colonnade separating the eastern nave [crossing] from the south aisle; in Roland's plan of 1899 the font has been moved back to the western half of the church, in the south aisle, just south of the colonnade that separates it from the nave. Rodwell (2009) notes an octagonal stone base of the late-14th or early-15th century decorated with trefoiled windows, mouldings and crenellations, which was illustrated in two 19th-century sources [Mackenzie, in Skelton (1823), and Jewitt, in Addington (1845)], both reproduced in Rodwell's excellent study of the Abbey. On-site notes: the heavy 12th-century lead font is ornamented with 11 figures representing 11 of the Apostles [Judas Iscariot, as often happens, is left out] seated under elaborate round arches. Unlike the fonts of the St. Evroult-de-Montfort group, the Dorchester Abbey font is cast and of much thicker metal [NB: Rodwell notes that the font got a new bottom welded to it in the 19th century]. The present stone base is modern and stands on an octagonal plinth with a kneeling stone.