Morton / Friers Carse / Friars Carse House
Image copyright © [in the public domain]
PD
Results: 7 records
B01: symbol - cross - in a circle - 4
![resembling Maltese crosses, of at least two different sizes, one on each of four side of the basin [cf. FontNotes]](/static-50478a99ec6f36a15d6234548c59f63da52304e5/compressed/0020314092_compressed.png)
Scene Description: resembling Maltese crosses, of at least two different sizes, one on each of four side of the basin [cf. FontNotes]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: Walker (1887: 393)
Copyright Instructions: PD
B02: symbol - cross - tréflée or fleurdelysée
![it appears either 'tréflée' or 'fleurdelysée' [cf. FontNotes]](/static-50478a99ec6f36a15d6234548c59f63da52304e5/compressed/0020314091_compressed.png)
Scene Description: it appears either 'tréflée' or 'fleurdelysée' [cf. FontNotes]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: Walker (1887: 393)
Copyright Instructions: PD
B03: design element - motifs - floral - rosette - 4-petal
Scene Description: appears to be a four-leaf rosette or leaf [cf. FontNotes]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: Walker (1887: 393)
Copyright Instructions: PD
B04: design element - architectural - arch - Gothic - 2
![One above another [cf. FontNotes]](/static-50478a99ec6f36a15d6234548c59f63da52304e5/compressed/0020314093_compressed.png)
Scene Description: One above another [cf. FontNotes]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: Walker (1887: 393)
Copyright Instructions: PD
B05: design element - architectural - arch - Gothic - 2
Scene Description: one upside down, joined at the wide end with the other [cf. FontNotes]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: Walker (1887: 393)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of font - plan, elevation and section
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: Walker (1887: 393)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: Detail of an engraving in Archaeology (vol. XI, pl. IX)
Copyright Instructions: PD
INFORMATION
Font ID: 00950MOR
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Church / Chapel Name: [orig. from the church at Morton, but by 1792 in the Friers Carse House]
Font Location in Church: no longer in a church
Church Notes: CANMORE [https://canmore.org.uk/site/65218/morton-old-church] [accessed 13 February 2024] has: "Soon after 1144 a church at Morton was given to the monks of Kelso, and in the 14th c is still listed among their possessions."
Site Location: Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located of road B6357
Additional Comments: damaged font / unused font: in a letter from Robert Riddell, the then owner of Friars Carse, to a Mr. Gough, dated December 31, 1792, the formaer states: "[...] At the time of the Reformation in SCotland, the mob demolished their sacred basins, by breaking and mutilating them with a barbarous and bigotted zeal, so that few of them now are to be met with, abd these much defaced. I have collected specimens of all the varieties I have seen -octangular, circular, square, oblong, and four-sided ones. The first is Morton font. I have found it buried in a heap of rubbish in a neglected corner of the churchyard [...]" (letter facilitated to the author by T. Nelson, Esp. of Friars Carse and cited in Walker, 1887, p. 391)
Font Notes:
Click to view
Described in Walker (1887) as being part of a private collection belonging to Friars Carse estate [owned ca. 1887 by T. Nelson; previously, ca. 1792, the owner was Robert Riddell, F.A.S.]. The basin is the only part left: it is octagonal of unequal sides; the basin well is also octagonal [this inner shape is acknowledged by Walker as unique in Scotland]. The vertical sides of the basin are charged with different figures: four of them look like the ordinary dedication cross cut on pre-Reformation churches [a Maltese cross]. The underbowl is chamfered and plain. The basin has a central drain hole. Illustrated in Archaeologia (vol. XI, pl. IX)
COORDINATES
UTM: 30U 451715 6122185
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 55.2438, -3.75945
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 55° 14′ 37.68″ N, 3° 45′ 34.02″ W
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, Freestone (red)
Number of Pieces: one
Font Shape: octagonal
Basin Interior Shape: octagonal
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal
Drainage System: centre hole in basin
Rim Thickness: 7 cm
Diameter (inside rim): 31.25 cm
Diameter (includes rim): 45 cm
Basin Depth: 25 cm
Basin Total Height: 57.5 cm
Height of Base: [missing]
Notes on Measurements: Walker (1887: 392) [NB: Walker gives the measurements of the inner and outer diameters reversed (ext.=1' 1/2" -- int. 1' 6"); we have corrected the error here]
REFERENCES
- Walker, J. Russell, "Scottish Baptismal Fonts", 21 or N.S. 9, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1887, pp. 346-448; p. 392 and ill. on p. 393