Beverley No. 1 / Beureli / Bevreli

There is a multiple-place entry that includes Beverley [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/TA0339/beverley/] [accessed 11 October 2019] but it mentiones neither cleric nor church in it. Simpson (1828) writes: "This very splendid Font has its history in the inscription round the top", referring to the text of an inscription running around the upper rim side; this inscription identifies the donors of the font as "Wyllim Feryffaxe [William Fairfax?] and his wyvis" who donated the font the March 10, 1530. Simpson adds that one other inscription "in the spandrels is so nearly obliterated as to be illegible", and that "the shields under the bowl have been defaced" [NB: David Jefferson, verger at St Mary's, informs that a few words can still be discerned: saint, church, etc. This same source notes that one of the shields on the bowl probably bears a merchant's arms (a cross with a W across its lower arm, while another of the shields may contain a rebus, an animal, possibly a bear, with a letter, perhaps a P]. Glynne's notes of his 12 April 1825 visit (in Butler, 2007) described it as "a splendid marble font of Perpendicular work." Noted in Paley (1844) as a baptismal font bearing an inscription. Ruprich-Robert (1855) mentions a noteworthy font here, without further details. The main inscription is cited in Bond (1908) and Cox-Harvey (1907), their transcription varying slightly from Simpson's own [NB: it is not known whether or not Cox-Harvey and Bond cited the inscription from Simpson or from the font itself; it is most likely that Bond used Cox-Harvey's transcription of this inscription as his footnote on p. 115 shows that he did with other inscriptions]. Noted and illustrated in Poulsen (1929) [aka 'Scaum's Beverlac'], who provides his own transcription of the inscription [NB: Poulsen notes: "another inscription was carved on the body of the font under the above, but it has, with much other carved work, been chiselled away"]. Gailhabaud (1850, t.III: unpaged, footnote), who gives the text in French, spells the surname as "Tériffaxe" [he does not give the source of his text]. On-site notes: large octagonal basin raised on a narrower stem and base, richly carved and bearing an English inscription all around the upper part of the sides: "Pray for the soules of Wyllm[…]", apparently William Leryffax, a local draper who presented the font to the church; there are no scenes on this font; the ornamentation is purely decorative with an elaborate inscription around the upper rim of the font; the bowl is octagonal and so is the base. Jenkins (1999) notes the "late cover of scrolls and cherub heads, carved in 1726 by the Thornton family of York", to a design by Hawksmoor [NB: the cover on the font at the time of our visit [July 1998] was a flat octagonal lid that does not match Jenkins' description [cf. Images area]- is that other cover elsewhere in this church?]. [cf. Index entry for Beverley St Mary's No. 2 for an earlier font in this church]. [We are grateful to Colin Hinson, of www.yorkshireCDbooks.co.uk, and to David R. Jefferson verger of St Mary's, for their help in documenting this font -- We are grateful to Colin Hinson for his photographs of the font].