Bessingby / Basinghebi
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 photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
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
design element - patterns - zigzag - double - two intersecting patterns
Scene Description: all around the upper surface of the rim; notice the iron staples of the old cover
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
view of basin - upper view
Scene Description: ornamented with pattern and showing the two old iron staples
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
animal - mammal - lion - passant
Scene Description: a feline (lion?) and its upside-down reflected image
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
design element - patterns - zigzag
Scene Description: ornamenting all the arches of the arcade
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
design element - motifs - chevron
Scene Description: on some of the columns of the arcade
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
design element - architectural - arcade - round arches
Scene Description: With ornamental chevron on the arches
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
design element - patterns - concentric - diamond or lozenge
Scene Description: in one of the arches of the arcade; to the left of the floral motive
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
design element - motifs - floral - 6-petal - in a circle - 2
Scene Description: one above the other; in one of the arches of the arcade; between the arches containing romboid motifs
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
design element - patterns - concentric - diamond or lozenge
Scene Description: in one of the arches of the arcade; to the right of the floral motif
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
symbol - plant - acanthus plant (Tree of Life?)
Scene Description: in one of the arches of the arcade, to the right of the lion
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
INFORMATION
Font ID: 00490BES
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Date Visited: 2000-07-14
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th century [basin only], Medieval [composite]
Cognate Fonts: Nafferton
Church / Chapel Name: St. Magnus' church (private)
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, W side, at the back
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Magnus
Church Notes: Present church dedicated to St Magnus replaced an earlier one in 1893-1894; it was built slightly away from the old one [NB: the church belongs to Bessingby Hall, the home of the Hudson family (Hudson Bay Co. of Canada, etc.) and is -according to the GENUKI WEB site- a perpetual curacy dedicated to St. Magnus [photo of the church available at the GENUKI sitewww.genuki.org.uk].
Church Address: 3 Main St. Bessingby, Bridlington YO16 4UH, United Kingdom
Site Location: East Riding of Yorkshire, Yorkshire and the Humber, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located off the A614/A165, 2.5 km SW of Bridlington and the coast
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of York
Historical Region: Hundred og Hunthow [in Domesday]
Additional Comments: altered font (the base is modern)
Font Notes:
Click to view
There is a multiple entry that includes Bessingby [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/TA1565/bessingby/] [accessed 8 March 2023]; it reports a church in it. A font here is noted and illustrated in Prickett (1831): "The font is ancient and curiously ornamented." Described and illustrated in Bond (1908). Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907). Listed in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as a tub-shaped baptismal font of the Norman period; the zigzag or chevron "occurs at Bessingby [...] in the greatest profusion, where it is arranged in patterns within the bays of an arcade itself, and even the rim of the font, being also covered with it". Both Betjeman (1958) and Muir (1997) give the font at Nafferton as a reference. Listed and illustrated in the CRSBI [https://www.crsbi.ac.uk/view-item?i=3958] [accessed 8 March 2023]: "A date for the font, and the nature of its relationship to the priory two miles away are uncertain: there are no firm dates for the granting of the church to the priory. However, Bessingby belonged to the founder of the priory and it may be assumed that the font was designed by a local Augustinian." [NB: the CRSBI entry by Rita Wood is quite extensive abd includes many detailed photographs of the font]. On-site notes: unmounted cylindrical font of quasi-vertical sides (though it now stands on a new brick base); the outer basin sides are ornamented with 12 round arches; the arches themselves are decorated with beautiful chevron pattern and each column has a distinct motif, some with the chevron theme; inside each arch there is a different motif: diamond patterns, acanthus plant, etc., and one of the most striking and original images in Norman art: a feline (lion?) and its mirrored image underneath, as if standing on water or a mirror.
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to the churchwarden of St. Magnus' for his help in documenting this font
COORDINATES
UTM: 30U 681152 5995579
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 54.0765, -0.231
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 54° 4′ 35.4″ N, 0° 13′ 51.6″ W
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, limestone
Number of Pieces: one
Font Shape: tub-shaped
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round
Drainage System: centre hole in basin
Rim Thickness: 14 cm*
Diameter (inside rim): 64 cm* / 63.7 cm**
Diameter (includes rim): 90 cm* / 91 cm**
Basin Depth: 37 cm* / 38 cm**
Height of Basin Side: 50 cm*
Basin Total Height: 50 cm* / 51 cm**
Font Height (less Plinth): 50 cm* / 51 cm**
Notes on Measurements: BSI. [NB: measurements of the new base not included]
LID INFORMATION
Notes: Evidence of 2 anchorings left in the rim.
REFERENCES
- Betjeman, John, An American's Guide to English Parish Churches (including the Isle of Man), New York: McDowell, Obolensky, 1958, p. 403
- Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 37, 149, 151, 157, ill. on p. 38
- Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland. URL: http://www.crsbi.ac.uk.
- Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 228, 229
- Muir, Richard, Yorkshire Countryside: A Landscape History, 1997, p. 186
- Prickett, Marmaduke [Revd.], An historical and architectural description of the Priory Church of Bridlington, in the East Riding of the County of York, London; Bridlington: Printed for T. Stevenson and sold by C.J.G. and F. Rivington; Forth and Furby, 1831, p. 54 and pl. XII
- Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928, p. 18, 76, 80