Ufford nr. Wickham Market / Offeworda / Uffeford / Uffeworda / Ufforda / Usforda

Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023

Results: 29 records

animal - bird - pelican - plucking its breast

Scene Description: as finial of the font cover

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]

Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Bond (1908)

Copyright Instructions: PD

design element - architectural - buttress - pinnacled - 8

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 23 July 1998 by BSI

design element - motifs - floral - rose - Tudor rose - 4

Scene Description: on alternate sides of the underbowl

design element - motifs - floral - rose - Tudor rose - in a quatrefoiled window - 4

Scene Description: on alternate sides of the basin

design element - motifs - floral - square flower - 4

Scene Description: on alternate sides of the underbowl

human figure - head - 8

Scene Description: at the angles of the underbowl chamfer; they are individualised

symbol - shield - in a hexafoil - cusped - 4

Scene Description: one on every other side of the basin [cf. Font notes for identification of disappeared (?) coat of arms belonging to the Ufford family in Gough (1792)]

view of church exterior - south portal

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 23 July 1998 by BSI

view of church exterior - southwest view

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 23 July 1998 by BSI

view of church exterior - west tower

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 23 July 1998 by BSI

view of church interior

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2007

Image Source: digital image by Simon Knott in www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/ufford.htm

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church interior - looking east

Scene Description: interior of the church "towards the end of the 19th century]

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2007

Image Source: digital image by Simon Knott in www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/ufford.htm

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church interior - nave - looking east

Scene Description: with the font and cover in the foreground, right [south] side

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Michael Garlick, 2015

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 May 2015 by Michael Garlick [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4517484] [accessed 5 February 2018]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of font

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]

Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Bond (1908)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of font

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 23 July 1998 by BSI

view of font and cover

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]

Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Bond (1908)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of font and cover in context

Scene Description: the font and cover rather distorted in the perspective -- Source caption: "Ufford: St. Mary of the Assumption Church: The font dating from 1450 and the profusion of bench ends".

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Michael Garlick, 2015

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 May 2015 by Michael Garlick [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4518629] [accessed 5 February 2018]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of font and cover in context

Scene Description: Source caption: "Ufford: St. Mary of the Assumption Church: The font and cover dating from 1450".

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Michael Garlick, 2015

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 May 2015 by Michael Garlick [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4518639] [accessed 5 February 2018]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of font and cover in context

Scene Description: Source caption: "Ufford: St. Mary of the Assumption Church: The nave from the east. The 18 ft high font cover is best seen from here."

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Michael Garlick, 2015

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 26 May 2015 by Michael Garlick [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4518650] [accessed 5 February 2018]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of font and cover in context

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Kroesen & Steensma, 2004

Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Kroesen and Steensma (2004)

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of font cover

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 23 July 1998 by BSI

view of font cover - detail

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Simon Knott, 2007

Image Source: digital image by Simon Knott in www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/ufford.htm

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font cover - detail

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Janice Tostevin, 2005

Image Source: digital photograph taken 4 August 2005 by Janice Tostevin

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font cover - detail

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Janice Tostevin, 2005

Image Source: digital photograph taken 4 August 2005 by Janice Tostevin

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font cover - detail

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Janice Tostevin, 2005

Image Source: digital photograph taken 4 August 2005 by Janice Tostevin

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font cover - detail

Scene Description: the statue is identified as St. Withburga by a label at its base

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Janice Tostevin, 2005

Image Source: digital photograph taken 4 August 2005 by Janice Tostevin

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font cover - detail

Scene Description: the statue is identified as St. Mary Magdalene by a label at its base

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Janice Tostevin, 2005

Image Source: digital photograph taken 4 August 2005 by Janice Tostevin

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font cover - finial

Scene Description: Source caption: "Ufford: St. Mary of the Assumption Church: The font cover. The pelican in her piety on top of the font cover (ca 1450) and 18 feet above the top of the font."

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Michael Garlick, 2015

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 May 2015 by Michael Garlick [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4494902] [accessed 5 February 2018]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of font cover - finial

Scene Description: Source caption: "Ufford: St. Mary of the Assumption Church: The font cover. Dating from around 1450, this is the pelican in her piety picking at her breast to feed her young with her own blood; symbolising Christ shedding His blood for us. The towering font cover means that the pelican in her piety is 18 feet above the font."

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Michael Garlick, 2015

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 May 2015 by Michael Garlick [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4494895] [accessed 5 February 2018]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

INFORMATION

FontID: 01073UFF
Church/Chapel: Church of the Assumption of Our Lady, Mother of God
Church Patron Saints: The Assumption of St. Mary
Church Location: Church Ln, Ufford, Woodbridge IP13 6DS, UK -- Tel.: +44 1394 387491
Country Name: England
Location: Suffolk, East Anglia
Directions to Site: Ufford is off the B1348 and the A12, 3 km SSE of Wickham Market, 21 km NE of Ipswich.
Historical Region: Hundred of Wilford
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, centre of the nave, towards the S aide, W end
Century and Period: 15th century (late?), Perpendicular
Workshop/Group/Artisan: heraldic font
Cognate Fonts: Ewelme (for the lid only)
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Simon Knott, of Suffolk Churches, for his photographs of this church, font and cover; we are alos grateful to Janice Tostevin for her photographs of the cover
Church Notes: Church of the Assumption of Our Lady, Mother of God, is the full name of this temple. The oldest part of the church, the north wall, is probably 11th century. The Norman church was 33 ft. long, 23 ft. wide and 13 ft. high. The major periods of rebuilding were the 13th and 14th century and ca. 1450, the latter "by the Willoughby family who succeeded to the Ufford estates upon the death, without issue, of the last in the male line of this [i.e., the Uffords] great Suffolk family." (Source: The Church of the Assumption, Ufford: a Short guide (Ipswich, 1990))
There are six entries for Ufford [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/TM2952/ufford/] [accessed 5 February 2018], none of which mentions cleric or church in it. Gough (1792) writes: "The font at Ufford in Suffolk has the arms of the family of that name, single and quarterly, and roses". Gough (ibid.) further adds the Ufford cover as an instance "of costly and laboured covers, finished in a rich Gothic style of wood-work". There are two drawings (?) of the font and cover at Ufford church listed in the 1824 auction 'Catalogue of the valuable collection of the late George Nassau, Esq.[...]'; the item is listed on p. 13, set no. 216, as "Ufford Church, Font and Cover (2)", together with several other items [copy of the auction catalogue held at the Bodleian Library, Oxford]. Listed in Paley (1844) as a hexagonal baptismal font decorated with heraldic devices. Lewis' Dictionary of 1848 notes: "a font with a curious cover, which has been engraved by the Society of Antiquaries". The font and cover are noted in Parker (1855). Described and illustrated in Bond (1908), who lists the cover with others of the 14th century and names it (ibid.) the "richest of all". Bond (ibid.) refers that even "Dowsing, the Suffolk iconoclast, could not help admiring 'a glorious cover over the font, like a Pope's triple crown, a pelican on the top picking its breast, and all gilt over with gold'". The font-cover is noted and illustrated in Howard & Crossley (1919). James (1930) relates the stand-off between the churchwardens and Dowsing and his henchmen. On-site notes: octagonal mounted font of the 15th century; the sides of the basin are ornamented with heraldic shields on alternate sides; the other sides have lovely Tudor roses encased in quatrefoil windows. The corners of the underbowl are ornamented with a finely carved head at each arris, while the actual sides, corresponding to the ones on the basin itself, are ornamented with Tudor roses and stylised four-arm motifs alternatively so that the rose of the basin does not correspond to the rose on the underbowl; the stem, base and double plinth are also octagonal. The 15th-century font cover, ca. 1450, is one of the finest in the world, a towering 18 feet of glorious Gothic flair crowned by a pelican feeding its young with its own blood. The lower part of the cover slides up over the superstructure as it is risen to give access to the font well [NB: the inside measurements of the basin could not be corroborated as the lid could not be removed during our visit]. Knott [www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/ufford.htm] writes: "The statues of saints that once lived in the niches are now gone (there are modern replacements), although this probably happened 100 years before Dowsing, at the time of the Reformation, and may explain why he didn't vent his furious cold logic on the cover." [NB: Knott refers to William Dowsing, the notorious iconoclast, who 'visited' this church in 1643]. Two of the siants on the cover are identified by labels as St. Mary Magdalene and St. Withburga.

COORDINATES

UTM: 31U 387124 5776012

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, limestone
Font Shape: octagonal (mounted)
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal
Drainage Notes: [unable to gain acces to the inside well]
Height of Basin Side: 33 cm
Basin Total Height: 50 cm
Height of Base: 51 cm
Basin Upper Panel Dimensions: 30 x 30 cm
Font Height (less Plinth): 101 cm
Font Height (with Plinth): (double plinth, 40 cm) 141 cm.
Notes on Measurements: BSI on-site

LID INFORMATION

Date: ca. 1450
Material: wood, [oak?]
Apparatus: Telescopic cover fixed to an upper beam permits lower part to slide up over the upper, like a section of a telescope (Bond, 1985 c. 1908, p. 301)
Notes: The 18 ft. lid has actually a pelican finial and has had it at least since 1643 when the horrid Suffolk iconoclast Dowsing visited the church and spared the lid from destruction; at that time he described the finial as "a Pope's triple crown with a pelican on the top, picking its breast, all gilt over with gold." (Source: The Church of the Assumption, Ufford: a Short guide (Ipswich, 1990))

REFERENCES

Bloxam, Matthew Holbeche, The Principles of Gothic ecclesiastical architecture, with an explanation of technical terms […], London: W. Kent, 1859
Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908
Cautley, Henry Munro, Suffolk churches and their treasures, Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1982
Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907
Crossley, Frederick Herbert, English Church Craftsmanship: an Introduction to the Work of the Mediaval Period and Some Account of Later Developments, London: B.T. Batsford, 1941
Dowsing, William, of Stratford, The Journal of William Dowsing, of Stratford, Parliamentary visitor, appointed under a warrant from the Earl of Manchester, for demolishing the superstitious pictures and ornaments of churches &c., within the County of Suffolk, in the years 1643-1644, Ipswich: Pawsey and Hayes, 1885
Evans, R.H., Catalogue of the valuable collection of the late George Nassau, Esq. [...] which will be sold at auction by Mr. Evans [...] on Thrusday, March 25 [...] 1824, [London]: Printed by W. Nicol, Cleveland-row, St. James's, 1828
Gough, Richard, "Description of the old font in the Church of East Meon, Hampshire, 1789: with some observations on fonts", X, Archaeologia, 1792, pp. 183-209; r["References"]
Howard, F.E., English Church Woodwork: a Study in Craftmanship during the Mediaeval period A.D. 1250-1550, London: B.T. Batsford, 1919
James, M. R., Suffolk and Norfolk, London, Toronto: Dent & Sons, 1930
Jenkins, Simon, England's Thousand Best Churches, London and New York: Allen Lane, the Penguin Press, 1999 [2000 rev. printing]
Knott, Simon, The Suffolk Churches Site, Simon Knott, 1999-. [standing permission to reproduce images received from Simon [February 2005]. URL: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk.
Kroesen, Justin E.A., The Interior of the medieval village church = Het middeleeuwse Dorpskerkinterieur, Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters, 2004
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England, Comprising the Several Counties, Cities, Boroughs, Corporate and Market Towns, Parishes, Chapelries, and Townships, and the Islands of Guernsy, Jersey, and Man, with Historical and Statistical Descriptions [...], London: S. Lewis, 1831
Long, E.T., "Dorset church fonts", 44, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, 1923, pp. 62-76; r["References"]
Paley, Frederick Apthorp, Illustrations of Baptismal Fonts, London, UK: John van Voorst, 1844
Parker, John Henry, The Ecclesiastical and architectural topography of England [...] Suffolk, 1855