Mellor

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Results: 11 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

animal - mammal - lion - passant-regardant

Scene Description: passant to the left -- on the northeast side of the basin [NB: orientation is approximate]

Image Source: detail of a photograph taken 24 March 1979 by Timothy Marlow

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (letter of 26 October 2013)

animal - mammal - lion - passant-regardant

Scene Description: quadruped passant to the right; notice the one bead or ball by the neck -- on the south-southeast side of the basin [NB: the CRSBI suggests a horse instead, but the rendering of the long feline tail indicates a lion, however equine the turned head may appear] -- note the spigot added just behing the front legs of the animal

Image Source: photograph in the CRSBI [www.crsbi.ac.uk/site/196/] [accessed 4 March 2015]

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

design element - motifs - ball, bead or pellet

Scene Description: two visible in this view; one is strategically located so that another interpretation may come to mind, but the one by the rump...

Image Source: detail of a photograph taken 24 March 1979 by Timothy Marlow

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (letter of 26 October 2013)

human figure - child?

Scene Description: between the two facing; animals seen here next to the quadruped on the left

Image Source: detail of a photograph in the CRSBI [www.crsbi.ac.uk/site/196/] [accessed 4 March 2015]

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

human figure - child?

Scene Description: between the two facing; animals seen here next to the quadruped on the right

Image Source: detail of a photograph in the CRSBI [www.crsbi.ac.uk/site/196/] [accessed 4 March 2015]

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

human figure - male - on horseback

Scene Description: on the west side of the basin [NB: orientation is approximate]

Image Source: detail of a photograph taken 24 March 1979 by Timothy Marlow

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (letter of 26 October 2013)

view of church exterior - southwest view

Scene Description: Source caption: "The Parish Church of St Thomas was built on the crest of a hill overlooking the village of Mellor. [...] The course rubble tower dates from the 15th century and is built on 12th century foundations; the rest of the church was rebuilt in the early 19th century."

Image Source: digital photograph taken 23 November 2014 by David Dixon [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4258859] [accessed 4 March 2015]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of font

Scene Description: northeast side

Image Source: photograph in the CRSBI [www.crsbi.ac.uk/site/196/] [accessed 4 March 2015]

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of font - west side

Scene Description: [NB: orientation is approximate]

Image Source: photograph taken 24 March 1979 by Timothy Marlow

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (letter of 26 October 2013)

view of font and cover

Image Source: Richards (1973)

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of font and cover - northeast side

Scene Description: [NB: orientation is approximate]

Image Source: photograph taken 24 March 1979 by Timothy Marlow

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (letter of 26 October 2013)

INFORMATION

FontID: 00792MEL

Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Thomas

Church Patron Saints: St. Thomas

Church Location: Church Rd, Mellor, Greater Manchester, SK6 5LX, United Kingdom

Country Name: England

Location: Greater Manchester, North West

Directions to Site: Located off (E) the A626, just E of Marple, 17-18 km SE of Manchester, near the High Peak and Derbyshire

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Chester

Historical Region: formerly Cheshire, Derbyshire

Font Location in Church: Inside the church, at the E end of the nave, S side [cf. FontNotes]

Century and Period: 11th - 12th century, Pre-Conquest? / Norman?

Cognate Fonts: Lysons mentions the font at Winster [cf. Index entry for Winster, a font of a late date]. Cox (1885-1887) notes similarities with the font at Tissington

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Timothy Marlow for his photographs of this font

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

No entry found for Mellor in the Domesday survey. A font here is noted in Lysons (1806-1833) as one of two fonts in this county [the other font mentioned is Winster] that "are large and circular, ornamented with rude sculptures in bas-relief." In Glover (1831) probably after Lysons. Lewis' Dictionary of 1848 reports "a font rudely carved" in this church. Noted with some measurements in Cox (1875-1877), who discards Bateman's claim about the possible interpretation of the horseman as the Triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, chiefly on the account that this rider wears a helmet. Cox (ibid.) dates the font to the reign of Stephen [i.e., 1135-1154]. Romilly Allen (1888) writes that "the practice of carving the design with incised outlines on a flat surface, instead of making the figures stand out in relief, is often a sign of early date, and a few instances occur on fonts, as at Tissington and Mellor". Described in Cox & Harvey (1907) as one of several tub fonts that Cox & Harvey date to the 11th century, ornamented with "hunting scenes rudely depicted". Bond (1908), however, argues that the carving is simply archaic and that the font probably dates to the 12th century, a product of the uncouth sculpture style of unsophisticated local masons. Noted in Pevsner (1971) [under Cheshire]: "Font. Early Norman, drum-shaped, with large, utterly barbaric carvings of a man on horseback, two other quadrupeds, and a seated child (?)." Richards (1973) dates the font to the late 12th century and describes it as "a remarkable fine example of its period"; his noting of the carving goes thus: "1)bridled horseman; 2)kneeling infant; 3)two curious reptiles meeting each side of the kneeling infant, extending nearly the whole circumference of the font". Richards (ibid.) notes also another interpretation "advanced by Mr. J.E. McDonald, a local antiquary, who after comparing the markings with those at Winchester, considers the figures to represent two salamanders, the Holy Ghost, and Jesus Christ riding into Jerusalem, thus interpreting the passage in St Matthew's gospel: 'He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.'" The CRSBI (2015) writes about St Thomas', Mellor: "The only Romanesque feature is the font, one of the most interesting in the county." The CRSBI further describes the ornamentation on the font, and refers to "two long confronted horse-like beasts", though, despite the somewhat equine heads, the rest of the bodies is rendered in the traditional way for a lion, long feline tail in the right position, between the hind legs and over the back, a Romanesque classic], and states that "it is certainly an 11thc. piece, but whether pre- or post-conquest is uncertain." As noted and illustrated in the CSRBI, the side of the font has been fit with a spigot!

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 53.3969, -2.0287

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 53° 23′ 48.84″ N, 2° 1′ 43.32″ W

UTM: 30U 564584 5916863

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, type unknown

Font Shape: tub-shaped

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: round

Drainage Notes: lead lining

Rim Thickness: 9.5 cm [calculated]

Diameter (inside rim): 48 cm*

Diameter (includes rim): 67 cm* / 67.5 cm**

Basin Total Height: 60 cm* / 65 cm**

Height of Base: 52 cm [calculated]

Font Height (less Plinth): 112 cm*

Notes on Measurements: * CRSBI (2015) / ** in ft/in in Cox (1887)

LID INFORMATION

Material: wood, oak?

Apparatus: no

Notes: round, flat and plain platform with four scroll ribs; ball finial

REFERENCES

The History and gazetteer of the County of Derby: drawn up from actual observation and from the best authorities [...] the materials collected by the publisher Stephen Glover. Edited by Thomas Noble [...], Derby: Stephen Glover. Printed for the publisher by Henry Mozley and Son, 1831

The National Gazetteer: a Topographical Dictionary of the British Isles, London: Virtue & Co., 1868

Allen, J. Romilly, "On the Antiquity of Fonts in Great Britain", XLIV, Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 1888, pp. 164-173; r["References"]

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: 2005-03-10 00:00:00. URL: http://www.crsbi.ac.uk.

Cox, John Charles J., English Church Fittings Furniture and Accessories, London: B.T. Batsford, 1922

Cox, John Charles, 1875-1877

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

Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England, Comprising the Several Counties, Cities, Boroughs, Corporate and Market Towns, Parishes, Chapelries, and Townships, and the Islands of Guernsy, Jersey, and Man, with Historical and Statistical Descriptions [...], London: S. Lewis, 1831

Lysons, Daniel, Magna Britannia, being a concise topographical account of the several counties of Great Britain, London: Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1806-1822

Pevsner, Nikolaus, Cheshire, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1971

Richards, Raymond, Old Cheshire churches: a survey of their history, fabric and furniture with records of the older monuments, with a supplementary survey relating to the lesser old chapels of Cheshire, Didsbury, Manchester: E.J. Morten, 1973