Herdmanston

Walker (1887) reports that the font is "at present" [i.e., circa 1887] located in "the family vault at Herdmanston". The font is monolithic and one side was "partly built into the wall, or pier, of the church" (ibid., p. 377); the stem consists of four engaged circular shafts with capitals "of very distinct Norman character" (ibid.) resting on a plain but boldly formed base. Described and illustrated in MacGibbon & Ross (1896-1897, v. I: 384-386 and fig. 349, 350) who identify the owning family as the Sinclairs of Herdmanston; "the font is of yellow freestone, in one piece, and although somewhat worn and battered in part, is still in a good state of preservation. The base is partly damaged, and the surface of the top is somewhat broken away towards the front [...], so that it measures a little higher at the back than at the front." The basin has the shape of a Norman cushion capital, the scallop curves projecting down and forming the capitals of the four base columns. The reduced measurements of the basin well and the lack of drainage is probably a good indication that this was not a baptismal font but a holy-water stoup, as is the design of the back, which "has been evidently meant to be placed against a wall, as all its parts -base, shaft, and capital- abut against a square haffit perfectly plain on the back, to admit its standing in such a position. The ends of this haffit are very much broken." [NB: though there are baptismal fonts built into walls or meant to stand against them, it is more common to find this design feature in stoups]