Tickencote / Tetyncote / Thekencote / Tichecote / Tikencote / Totyncote / Tykencot / Tykingkote

There is an entry for Tickencote [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SK9909/tickencote/] [accessed 23 July 2015]; it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. There is a "Pen and grey ink with grey wash" drawing of this font in the context of the church in the British Museum. The item [ref.: 1877,0512.195, AN291506] is described: "View in Tickencote Church, near Stamford, Rutlandshire; richly ornamented Norman arch with font to left and view down aisle -- drawn by: Edward Blore -- date: 1787-1879". Baptismal font noted in Gough (1792): "square, adorned with interlaced arches, on a plain square base". Described in Paley (1844) as one among a group of "very handsome" font of the Transitional period decorated with dog-tooth motif. Paley (ibid.) remarks on the "unusual position" of this font and the one at Milton nr. Cambridge, at the east end of the nave. A brief reference to this font is found in a contribution by "E. Bentley Wood" in the Leicestershire and Rutland Notes and Queries and Antiquarian [...], (vol. 1, 1889-1891: 203) notes: "The old font has survived the other changes and is a good specimen of the style, being ornamented with an arcade of intersecting arches, above which is some rude foliage. The angles are dog-toothed with heads at the upper corners." Described in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a noteworthy example of Early English font. Described and illustrated in Bond (1908) as a 13th-century baptismal font: the rectangular basin has stalked foliage and tooh ornament, with a face in each corner of the upper part of the bowl; most of the surface of the sides displays intersecting round arches; the pedestal is massive and has a round shaft at each corner. The 'Notes...' prepared by Rev. Coldwell, Rector of the Parish between 1929 and 1944, inform that in Blore's drawing, a copy of which is now in the porch, the font appears on the north side of the arch, and the font has a plain square block as base. Coldwell also writes that a drawing of the font made in 1826 and kept in the church, also shows the basin raised on a plain square block. The Victoria County History (Rutland, vol. 2: 275-281 notes: "With the exception of the chancel arch, which is a particularly rich example of Norman work, c. 1160–70 or perhaps a little later, the whole of the church was rebuilt in 1792 by Miss Eliza Wingfield from the designs of Samuel Pepys Cockerell. [...] The whole of the building is said to have been in a state of dilapidation and decay in the years immediately preceding the rebuilding. [...] The magnificent chancel arch is the chief feature of interest in the church and the only part of the fabric that was not taken down in 1792. It has been carefully preserved and there are no indications of its having been in any way altered or rechiselled. [...] The 13th-century font has a square bowl, with an arcade of intersecting round arches on each face, foliage above and a line of dog-tooth at each angle stopped by a head below the chamfered rim. The pedestal is modern." [NB: there are two interior plans of this church illustrated in the VCH (ibid.); the plan by J. Carter, Sept. 1780, shows the font located in the northwest corner of the nave; the later plan [ca. 1935?] shows the font moved to the southeast corner of the chancel arch]. In Pevsner (1984): "Square, with intersected arches leaving a little space for odd leaves, etc. above. At the angles vertical strips of dogtooth with small heads at the top; c. 1200." On-site notes: the pedestal base with four columns at the corners is a recent addition [already present in Bond's own time, i.e., ca. 1908, but not in Gough (1792) or in Paley (1844)], not the original base. Paley had reported ca. 1844 that the "former shaft now lies in the village street" but we have no knowledge of what it looked like. In Paley's own time [i.e, ca. 1844], the font sat on yet a different base, a plain square block. The bowl has been heavily restored or re-cut, but the original motifs appear to have been kept intact. The only figural ornamentation on this work are the heads at the upper corners of the basin. The basin well is not lined and has a central drainage hole [NB: Paley (1844) reported that the font was "without any lining; nor is any drain apparent" and gave 1792 as the date in which the font had been moved to its position under the chancel arch]. Paley (ibid.) identified the material of the basin as "Barnack stone".