Wareham No. 1 / Warham

There are two entries for Wareham [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SY9287/wareham/] [accessed 21 February 2015], one of which, in the hands of the Abbey of Saint Wandrille, mentions a church and church lands in it. There is a July 1790 ink-wash-on-paper drawing of this font by Samuel Hieronymus Grimm (1733-1794) in the British Library collections [Shelfmark: Additional MS 15538 - Item number: f.41]. This font is listed in Gough (1792), Paley (1844), Cox (1875) and Andre (1882) as an early lead font. Reported in the 3rd ed. of Hutchins (1973 c1861-1874): "a very ancient font, which seems to have been once much larger [...] a well-preserved example of cast-lead work, apparently of the twelfth century [...] It formerly had a cover, probably of the same material." During his visit to this church in October 1825, Glynne (1923) noted: "The font is an octagon ornamented with figures beneath semi-circular shafts; around the base are shafts." Described in the J G Harrod & Co's Postal & Commercial Directory of Dorset & Wiltshire of 1865, where it is dated 11th century and located near the west entrance. Lethaby (1893) notes: "The style seems central Norman not Transitional". Cox & Harvey (1907) describe it as a "11th-cent[ury] leaden font", adding that it is "the only example of a hexagonal leaden font; it has a double arcading on each face, with a figure under each arcade". Bond (1908) writes that the basin appears to be one piece [as opposed to many others that consist of welded and formed plates] and adds that "if the lead bowl at Wareham is of the same date of the pedestal, it also belongs to the thirteenth century"; Bond (ibid.) supports this dating saying that "no font with grooved shafts is likely to be earlier then the twelfth century." Long (1923) notes it as "the only instance of a lead font in Dorset" , and lists it with the Norman fonts of this county. Mee (1939) remarks that this is "a unique member of the very small family of lead fonts [...] unique because it has six sides". Described and illustrated in Zarnecki (1957) who dates it ca. 1150 and suggests an Italian influence in the design of the font. In Newman & Pevsner (1972). Noted in Rodwell (1009). On-site notes: the large octagonal stone base is made of Purbeck marble and consists of four volumes (but one piece): the upper is a flat console on which the font rests; the next volume has constructional columns at the angles; the third and fourth are octagonal "steps" gradually wider. The base has all the appearance of "belonging" with the basin, except for its shape: why octagonal? The whole rests on a wider plinth. [cf. Index entry for Wareham No. 2, St Mary's (Dorset) for another font listed in this church]