Bessingby / Basinghebi

Results: 12 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

animal - mammal - lion - passant

Scene Description: a feline (lion?) and its upside-down reflected image

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI

design element - architectural - arcade - round arches

Scene Description: With ornamental chevron on the arches

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI

design element - motifs - chevron

Scene Description: on some of the columns of the arcade

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI

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

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI

design element - patterns - concentric - diamond or lozenge

Scene Description: in one of the arches of the arcade; to the left of the floral motive

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI

design element - patterns - concentric - diamond or lozenge

Scene Description: in one of the arches of the arcade; to the right of the floral motif

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI

design element - patterns - zigzag

Scene Description: ornamenting all the arches of the arcade

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI

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

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI

symbol - plant - acanthus plant (Tree of Life?)

Scene Description: in one of the arches of the arcade, to the right of the lion

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI

view of basin - upper view

Scene Description: ornamented with pattern and showing the two old iron staples

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI

view of font

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

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of font

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 14 July 2000 by BSI

INFORMATION

FontID: 00490BES

Church/Chapel: St. Magnus' church (private)

Church Patron Saints: St. Magnus

Church Location: 3 Main St. Bessingby, Bridlington YO16 4UH, United Kingdom

Country Name: England

Location: East Riding of Yorkshire, Yorkshire and the Humber

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]

Font Location in Church: Inside the church, W side, at the back

Century and Period: 12th century [basin only], Medieval [composite]

Cognate Fonts: Nafferton

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to the churchwarden of St. Magnus' for his help in documenting this font

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].

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

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.

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 54.0765, -0.231

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 54° 4′ 35.4″ N, 0° 13′ 51.6″ W

UTM: 30U 681152 5995579

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, limestone

Number of Pieces: one

Font Shape: tub-shaped

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: round

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

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

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. Accessed: 2023-03-08 00:00:00. URL: http://www.crsbi.ac.uk.

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

Muir, Richard, Yorkshire Countryside: A Landscape History, 1997

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

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