Berrington / Beritune / Biriton / Byryhton
Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
Results: 12 records
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a 17 July 17 2000 photograph by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
view of font and cover in context
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Timothy Marlow, 2015
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)
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
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: digital image of an engraving, probably from a drawing by J. Roberts, in Anderson (1864)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: digital image of a B&W photograph in Bond (1908)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: digital image of a B&W photograph in Tyrrell-Green (1928)
Copyright Instructions: PD
liturgical equipment - candle
Scene Description: between two of the heads, on the right half of this image; in very low relief
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a 17 July 17 2000 photograph by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
human figure - head - 4
Scene Description: one after the other, horizontally
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a 17 July 17 2000 photograph by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
animal - bird - cuckold
![[cf. FontNotes]](/static-50478a99ec6f36a15d6234548c59f63da52304e5/compressed/BER0004426_compressed.png)
Scene Description: [cf. FontNotes]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a 17 July 17 2000 photograph by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
human figure - head - 2
Scene Description: one to each side of the bird
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a 17 July 17 2000 photograph by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
design element - motifs - rope moulding
Scene Description: all around the upper rim side
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a 17 July 17 2000 photograph by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
animal - mammal - lion - passant
Scene Description: very crudely carved; one source identifies it as an elephant [cf. FontNotes]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a 17 July 17 2000 photograph by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
view of church exterior
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a 17 July 17 2000 photograph by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
INFORMATION
Font ID: 00277BER
Object Type: Other
Object Details: column, roman
Date Visited: 2000-07-17
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th century [re-carved Roman pillar?], Medieval [altered?]
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of All Saints
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, in ghe W end, centre aisle
Church Patron Saint(s): All Saints
Church Address: Berrington, Shropshire SY5 6HB, United Kingdom
Site Location: Shropshire, West Midlands, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located ENE of Condover, SSE of Shrewsbury
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Hereford
Historical Region: Hundred of Condover [in Domesday]
Additional Comments: re-cycled / part of it a re-carved Roman pillar? Composite font? -- disappeared font? (was there another font in the Domesday-time church?)
Font Notes:
Click to view
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 an 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.
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Timothy Marlow for his photograph of this font
COORDINATES
UTM: 30U 520575 5834176
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 52.657148, -2.695823
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 52° 39′ 25.73″ N, 2° 41′ 44.96″ W
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, limestone
Number of Pieces: one
Font Shape: cylindrical, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round
Drainage System: no drainage system
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, pl. 202
- Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 37, 45, 47, 139, 240 and ill. on p. 136
- Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 215
- Newman, John, Shropshire, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006, p. 143
- Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928, p. 18, 24, 73, 79 and fig. 43 on p. 76