Stow No. 2 / Stou / Stowe / Stow in Lindsey / Stow in Lindsay

Main image for Stow No. 2 / Stou / Stowe / Stow in Lindsey / Stow in Lindsay

Image copyright © Michael Garlick, 2016

CC-BY-SA-2.0

Results: 14 records

view of font and cover - southeast side

orientation is approximate
Scene Description: orientation is approximate
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Michael Garlick, 2016
Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 September 2016 by Michael Garlick [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5158814] [accessed 15 April 2019]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of font and cover - southwest side

Source caption: "St.Mary's font. Thirteenth century Early English octagonal font on nine columns, unusually decorated with non-christian symbols including a dragon, pentangle and a green man."
Scene Description: Source caption: "St.Mary's font. Thirteenth century Early English octagonal font on nine columns, unusually decorated with non-christian symbols including a dragon, pentangle and a green man."
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Richard Croft, 2007
Image Source: digital photograph taken 2 January 2007 by Richard Croft [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/303313] [accessed 15 April 2019]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of font and cover - east side

Font image
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Ian S, 2018
Image Source: digital photograph taken 19 May 2018 by Ian S [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5887979] [accessed 15 April 2019]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of font in context

Font image
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Bond (1908: 42)
Copyright Instructions: PD

symbol - star - 5-point

on the east-northeast side of the basin
Scene Description: on the east-northeast side of the basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Ian S, 2018
Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 19 May 2018 by Ian S [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5887979] [accessed 15 April 2019]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

design element - motifs - floral or foliage

on the est-northeast side of the basin
Scene Description: on the est-northeast side of the basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Michael Garlick, 2016
Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 September 2016 by Michael Garlick [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5158835] [accessed 15 April 2019]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

animal - fabulous animal or monster

perhaps a dragon
Scene Description: perhaps a dragon
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Michael Garlick, 2016
Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 September 2016 by Michael Garlick [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5158819] [accessed 15 April 2019]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

human figure - male - grotesque or fantastic - head - Green Man or woodwoose? / monster?

on the southeast side of the basin -- orientation is approximate
Scene Description: on the southeast side of the basin -- orientation is approximate
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © J. Hannan-Briggs, 2012
Image Source: digital photograph taken 4 August 2012 by J. Hannan-Briggs [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3098116] [accessed 15 April 2019]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

design element - motifs - foliage

all around the underbowl
Scene Description: all around the underbowl
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Richard Croft, 2007
Image Source: digital photograph taken 2 January 2007 by Richard Croft [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/303315] [accessed 15 April 2019]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of font and cover in context - southwest view

Source caption: "Stow, St. Mary's Church: The nave with the Anglo Saxon arches that supported the original tower. Between the Anglo Saxon arches is a pointed Gothic arch."
Scene Description: Source caption: "Stow, St. Mary's Church: The nave with the Anglo Saxon arches that supported the original tower. Between the Anglo Saxon arches is a pointed Gothic arch."
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Michael Garlick, 2016
Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 14 September 2016 by Michael Garlick [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5158846] [accessed 15 April 2019]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

animal - fabulous animal or monster - dragon - detail

the photographer captions this image "possibly Devil's face carving at the base", but it is that head of the dragon whose body extends towards the right outside of the picture here
Scene Description: the photographer captions this image "possibly Devil's face carving at the base", but it is that head of the dragon whose body extends towards the right outside of the picture here
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Michael Garlick, 2016
Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 September 2016 by Michael Garlick [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5158826] [accessed 15 April 2019]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

animal - fabulous animal or monster - dragon

on the back [west] side of the lower base; the wings on the front, the head twisted east at a 90-degree angle
Scene Description: on the back [west] side of the lower base; the wings on the front, the head twisted east at a 90-degree angle
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Michael Garlick, 2016
Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 September 2016 by Michael Garlick [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5158823] [accessed 15 April 2019]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

human figure - head

on the northeast corner of the lower base; much eroded now
Scene Description: on the northeast corner of the lower base; much eroded now
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Michael Garlick, 2016
Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 September 2016 by Michael Garlick [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5158829] [accessed 15 April 2019]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

design element - motifs - floral or foliage

on the southeast corner of the lower base
Scene Description: on the southeast corner of the lower base
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Michael Garlick, 2016
Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 September 2016 by Michael Garlick [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5158831] [accessed 15 April 2019]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

INFORMATION

Font ID: 00505STO
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 13th century, Transitional / Early English
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Mary / Stow Minster [served as cathedral of the old diocese of Lindsey]
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Mary the Virgin
Church Address: 3 Church Rd, Stow, Lincoln LN1 2DE, United Kingdom -- Tel.: +44 1427 788725
Site Location: Lincolnshire, East Midlands, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located 12-14 km WNW of Lincoln up the A1241, 14 km SE of Gainsborough
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Lincoln [formerly Diocese of Lindsey]
Historical Region: Hundred of Aveland
Additional Comments: Green Man on font
Font Notes:
There is an entry for this Stow [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/TF0934/stow/] [accessed 15 April 2019]; it mentions a church in it. The entry for this abbey in the Victoria County History (Lincoln, vol. 2, 1906) notes: "The monastery of St. Mary, Stow, was founded early in the eleventh century [ca. 1040?] for secular clerks [...] After the Conquest Bishop Remigius found that the house had been for some time desolate by the carelessness of its rulers; and in 1091 he determined to convert it into a Benedictine abbey. [...] In 1109 Henry I issued a new charter, [...] at the desire probably of Robert Bloett, Remigius's successor, [...] for the restoration of the abbey of Eynsham. The monks of Stow were soon afterwards transferred thither, and the estates of their church were annexed to the see of Lincoln." This is probably the font noted in Moule (1837) as being `coeval with the oldest part of the church`. Described and illustrated in Bond (1908) as a late 12th-century Norman font; the octagonal basin ornamented with large rosettes on the sides rests on a central pedestal and eight colonnettes topped with transition capitals; the base/plinth is square with ornaments on the upper surface. Jenkins (1999) describes it as "a magnificent Early Gothic font, its bowl resting on colonnettes, with pagan emblems on its eight faces. One of these is a Green Man." Hutton (1957) dates it to the Early English period [1190 to 1250 a/p Hutton]. The square plinth or lower base on which the bases of the columns rest has also several ornamentations, among which a rope moulding. Also in Smith (1976). Cox & Harvey (1907) list it as Norman. Pevsner, Harris and Anram (1989) note: "E[arly] E[nglish], octagonal, on nine supports. On each side of the plain bowl one small motif, none of the Christian. A band of foliage runs round the bottom of the bowl, and there is a largish monster along the W side of the base."
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Peter Fairweather, www.chuchmouse.info, for his photographs of this font.

COORDINATES

UTM: 30U 654688 5911219
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 53.3275, -0.677222
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 53° 19′ 39″ N, 0° 40′ 38″ W

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, type unknown
Font Shape: octagonal, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal
Drainage Notes: lead-lined

LID INFORMATION

Material: wood, oak?
Apparatus: no
Notes: octagonal and flat

REFERENCES

  • Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 46, 94, 144, 155, 209, 211, 217
  • Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 207, 208
  • Hutton, Graham, English Parish Churches, London: Thames & Hudson, 1976, p. 37 and pl. 33
  • Jenkins, Simon, England's Thousand Best Churches, London and New York: Allen Lane, the Penguin Press, 1999 [2000 rev. printing], p. 394-395
  • Moule, Thomas, The English counties delineated; or, A topographical description of England [...], London: George Virtue, 1837 [vol. 2], vol. 2: 215
  • Pevsner, Nikolaus, Lincolnshire, London: Penguin, 1989, p. 725
  • Smith, Edwin, English Parish Churches, London: Thames & Hudson, 1976, p. 20 and ill on plate 9