Aldworth / Alderworth / Aldeseworthe / Aldeworthe / Allder / Audewerth / Elleorde / Vulgo Alder

Image copyright © John Ward, 2009
Standing permission
Results: 5 records
design element - motifs - moulding
view of church exterior - northwest view
view of church exterior - southeast view
view of church interior - nave - looking east
INFORMATION
FontID: 01007ALD
Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin
Church Patron Saints: St. Mary the Virgin
Church Location: Bell Lane, Aldworth, Berkshire, RG8 9SB
Country Name: England
Location: Berkshire, South East
Directions to Site: Located on the B4009, 15 km NE of Newbury, 16 km from Reading
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Oxford [formerly in the Diocese of Salisbury]
Historical Region: Hundred of Nakedthorn [in Domesday] -- Hundred of Compton
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, at the NW corner of the S aisle
Century and Period: 12th century (late?), Late Norman? / Transitional?
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to John Ward, of Oxfordshire Churches [http://homepage.mac.com/john.ward/oxfordshirechurches], for his photograph of this font
Church Notes: Early English church with important 13th-century wall paintings
Font Notes: Click to view font notes
There is an entry for Aldworth [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SU5579/aldworth/] [accessed 5 May 2015], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Reported as a "font of the most simple and humble design" in letter to the editor of 23 March 1799 published in The Gentleman's Magazine (issue of April 1799, p. 274) [NB: the text of the letter indicates that a number of sketches, including one of the font, accompanied the letter, but they were not published in the issue]. Noted in Moule (1837) as "capacious and somewhat irregular in its form." Hewett & Hewett (1844) note: "The font which is extremely plain on an ascent of steps has on its upper margin a number of small holes drilled into the stone here perhaps the lock and hinges of the lid have been affixed or it is probable that the ritual containing the baptismal service may have been anciently attached to the font with chains". Drawing of a font in the Harvey Pridham Drawings of English Fonts (MS 56). [Folder Number, Item Description]. University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries. Special Collections Dept., done by Harvey Pridham in September 1887 accompanied by the following description: "All circular, including modern footpace, which projects 10 1/2" all round from lowest moulding. Circular bowl, lead lined, sides inside raked same as out, flat bottom, 16 1/2 deep, 3 1/2 margin. Position, built up in the N. W angle of S. aisle. Enormous flat lead cover." Described in 'Church notes...' (1887) in the context of some "notes [that] were taken between 1835 and 1840": "The font is a rude cone with a base moulding early English or Decorated." The font is noted in the report of an excursion of the Berks[hire] Archaeological Society published in the Berks, Bucks & Oxon Archaeological Journal (vol. 20, no.3 (October 1914: 92)), a barrel font no later than the 12th century. Described in the Victoria County History (Berkshire, vol. 4, 1924): "The tower and nave are the oldest parts of the present building and belong to a small aisleless church consisting only of chancel, nave and tower erected about 1200. [...] The font is circular and of late 12th-century date; it tapers towards the foot, and stands on a moulded base." Listed in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as a Norman baptismal font of cylindrical or tub-like shape. Tthe font consists of a bucket-shaped tub with a moulding on the squat circular base; raised on a a round plinth. The wooden cover and the lead lining are modern.
COORDINATES
Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal:
51.510729,
-1.202954
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS:
51° 30′ 38.62″ N,
1° 12′ 10.63″ W
UTM: 30U 624704 5708153
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material:
stone, type unknown
Number of Pieces: one
Font Shape: bucket-shaped (mounted)
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round
Drainage Notes: lead-lined
Basin Depth: 41.25 cm*
Notes on Measurements: * [in inches in Harvey Fridham [cf. FontNotes]]
LID INFORMATION
Date: modern
Material:
wood,
Apparatus: no
Notes: [cf. FontNotes]
REFERENCES
"Church notes, chiefly in Berks, Wilts, and Oxford, with a few in Somerset and Gloucestershire", 44, Archaeological Journal, 1887, pp. 43-50; 185-193; 291-303; 397-402; r["References"]
Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. Accessed: 2009-09-07 00:00:00. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.
Hewett, William, The History and Antiquities of the Hundred of Compton, Berks, being a topographical [...], Reading: Published and sold by John Snare, 1844
Moule, Thomas, The English counties delineated; or, A topographical description of England [...], London: George Virtue, 1837 [vol. 2]
Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928