Berrington / Beritune / Biriton / Byryhton

Results: 12 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

animal - bird - cuckold

Scene Description: [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital image of a 17 July 17 2000 photograph by BSI

animal - mammal - lion - passant

Scene Description: very crudely carved; one source identifies it as an elephant [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital image of a 17 July 17 2000 photograph by BSI

design element - motifs - rope moulding

Scene Description: all around the upper rim side

Image Source: digital image of a 17 July 17 2000 photograph by BSI

human figure - head - 2

Scene Description: one to each side of the bird

Image Source: digital image of a 17 July 17 2000 photograph by BSI

human figure - head - 4

Scene Description: one after the other, horizontally

Image Source: digital image of a 17 July 17 2000 photograph by BSI

liturgical equipment - candle

Scene Description: between two of the heads, on the right half of this image; in very low relief

Image Source: digital image of a 17 July 17 2000 photograph by BSI

view of church exterior

Image Source: digital image of a 17 July 17 2000 photograph by BSI

view of font

Image Source: digital image of a B&W photograph in Tyrrell-Green (1928)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of font

Image Source: digital image of a B&W photograph in Bond (1908)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of font

Scene Description: note the proportional distorsion in this image vis-a-vis the actual photographs of the font -- also, the quadruped is uncannily rendered as an elephant passant to the right

Image Source: digital image of an engraving, probably from a drawing by J. Roberts, in Anderson (1864)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of font

Image Source: digital image of a 17 July 17 2000 photograph by BSI

view of font and cover in context

Image Source: digital photograph taken 7 August 2009 by Timothy Marlow

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (letter of 26 October 2013)

INFORMATION

FontID: 00277BER

Church/Chapel: Parish Church of All Saints

Church Patron Saints: All Saints

Church Location: Berrington, Shropshire SY5 6HB, United Kingdom

Country Name: England

Location: Shropshire, West Midlands

Directions to Site: Located ENE of Condover, SSE of Shrewsbury

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Hereford

Historical Region: Hundred of Condover [in Domesday]

Font Location in Church: Inside the church, in ghe W end, centre aisle

Century and Period: 12th century [re-carved Roman pillar?], Medieval [altered?]

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Timothy Marlow for his photograph of this font

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

There is an entry for this Berrington [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SJ5206/berrington/] [accessed 3 March 2015], and it mentions a priest and a church in it. A font here is illustrated in Anderson (1864), who notes: "From the notice in Domesday […] we may infer that Berrington church was in existence at the period of the survey [i.e., 1086], if not in Saxon times." The Western Antiquary (issue of September 1886, vol. VI, no. 4, p. 106) prints a note from a reader: "There is a figure carved on the font in Berrington Church, Salop, which can only be that of an elephant. The font is formed out of the capital of a Roman pillar, no doubt from the neighbouring city of Uriconiam, Wroxeter. Age uncertain, but very, very early--possibly Saxon" [NB: 'Saxon' was often used at this time for Norman]. Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a noteworthy baptismal font of the Norman period. Described and illustrated in Bond (1908) as a cylindrical Norman font of crude workmanship; the basin is framed up and down by two torus, the upper one at the rim decorated with rope-motif; the basin sides are ornamented with: a cuckold, a face, another face, a candle (?), four other faces one after the other and a crudely carved animal which could be a lion. Described and illustrated in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as a cylindrical font of the Norman period. In Newman & Pevsner (2006): "Norman, set on a Roman column base. Circular, with seven frontal heads, and a shaggy-legged beast." On-site notes: the basin well is lead-lined. The upper base, which appears to be part of the same block of stone as the basin, is a plain cylinder a little thinner than the basin; the lower base is also round, wider and appears made of several pieces. Some damage at the upper rim where the metal hinges of the lid have been removed, and on the basin side, lower torus. The flat wooden lid appears modern.

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 52.657148, -2.695823

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 52° 39′ 25.73″ N, 2° 41′ 44.96″ W

UTM: 30U 520575 5834176

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, limestone

Number of Pieces: one

Font Shape: cylindrical (mounted)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: round

Drainage Notes: Unless the original drainage was covered by the lead lining.

Rim Thickness: 11 cm*

Diameter (inside rim): 64-66 cm*

Diameter (includes rim): 86-88 cm*

Basin Depth: 35 cm*

Basin Total Height: 75 cm*

Height of Base: 23 cm*

Font Height (less Plinth): 98 cm*

Notes on Measurements: * BSI on-site

LID INFORMATION

Date: modern / Victorian?

Material: wood, oak?

Apparatus: no

Notes: round and flat, with metal decoration and ring handle; modern [NB: there is evidence of removed hardware from a previous cover]

REFERENCES

The Western Antiquarian; or, Notebook for Devon, Cornwall, & Somerset, VI, June 1886 to May 1887, 1886-1887

Anderson, John Corbet, Shropshire, its early history and antiquities, comprising […], London: Willis and Sotheran, 1864

Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908

Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907

Newman, John, Shropshire, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006

Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928