Stithians No. 1 / Stythians

Described and illustrated in Tangye (1975). Tangye reports the findings of J.T. Blight's [cf. AuthorNotes below] trip to Stithians in 21 August 1856: "In the vicarage grounds, he sketched a mutilated Norman font [...] which had probably been discarded, and replaced, during a previous (1783) rebuild of the church". Tangye found no such object in his visit [ca. 1975], but "in the north wall of the chancel of the parish church of St Stythian's, or Stithian (1268, sancte Stethyiane), forming the base of an arched recess, is a piscina, the bowl of which has at some time been filled and levelled. Carved boldly and beautifully on its outer face are two animals facing each other. This sculpture, which appears to represent two lions, so obviously part of the repertoire of 'Norman' or Romanesque ornament, was also noticed by the late Charles Henderson." Tangye, who provides drawings of both the fragment [after Blight] and the piscina, concludes that "it is immediately apparent that both the piscina [...] and the font seen by Blight are one and the same", and, citing Polsue (1873: 181), suggests that the piscina was built into the chancel arch at the time of the 1862 restoration. Tangye further argues that the combination of these decorative elements on the font fragment, the facing lions on one side and the Tree-of-life motif on the other, "suggests that the original font should be ascribed to the so-called 'Bodmin' series, dated by Sedding (1909) to about 1150-1180". [NB: since the church of St. Stithians dates to the 15th century and the plain octagonal baptismal font now in use in this church [cf. Index entry for St. Stithians No. 2] dates from about that period, it could be argued that the old Bodmin-type font had been discarded at a much earlier date than the 1783 suggested in Tangye, probably at the very time of the dedication of this church in the 15th century -- In the lack of documentary evidence on whether or not the old font was discarded due to 'fashion' considerations or because it may have been already damaged, the reason for its demise as baptismal vessel can only be speculated. This is a time in the history of baptismal fonts in England when it is not unknown for an old square Norman font to be re-fashioned into an octagonal shape, even if it destroyed the iconographic program on it]. Noted in Cox (1912): "In N[orth] wall of chancel is a niche constructed in 1862, the semi-circular base of which, projecting 8 in., is carved with two quaint beasts; this work is undoubtedly Norm., and appears to be part of bowl of an old font."