Wychling / Wichling

Results: 1 records

INFORMATION

Font ID: 01076WYC
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th - 13th century, Medieval
Workshop/Group/Artisan: lead font
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Margaret
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Margaret of Antioch [aka Margaret the Virgin, Marina]
Church Address: Faversham Road, Wychling, Kent, ME9 0DJ, United Kingdom
Site Location: Kent, South East, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located halfway between the M2 and the M20, 16-18 km E of Maidstone
Additional Comments: recycled font: Fryer, Wall, etc., inform that a font bowl of lead was dug up at Wychling, Kent [cf. FontNotes]
Font Notes:
Noted in Fryer (1900) as a lead basin "which was dug up a few years ago from out of a mass of brickwork", dating from the end of the Early English or the beginning of the Decorated period, the ornamentation of which "consists of a geometrical pattern [...] which is repeated ten times." In Livett (1905), after Fryer, as one of three Kentish lead fonts [the others at Brookland and Eythorne]. Described in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a "leaden bowl of 13th-cent. date. Listed in Bond (1908) simply as a lead font with decoration other than figures or arcading. Wall (1912) writes: "a few years since a font bowl of lead was dug up at Wychling, Kent. At intervals around its circumference are most chaste and delicate scrolls flowing from an upright stem. It is now encased in a frame of wood to support the fragile metal, but so well arranged that no feature of the original work is lost to view." Listed in Tyrrell-Green (1928) without description or date. Newman (1976) suggests a dating towards the end of the 12th century: "The decoration consists of a ten times repeated clump of wraith-like leaveson a stem. The unfeeling modern wooden framework ought to be removed."

COORDINATES

UTM: 31U 342665 5682158
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 51.26902, 0.7446
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 51° 16′ 8.47″ N, 0° 44′ 40.56″ E

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: metal, lead
Number of Pieces: one [modern stone base]
Font Shape: cylindrical, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round
Diameter (includes rim): 50 cm*
Basin Total Height: 28.75 cm*
Notes on Measurements: * [Fryer (1900) -- NB: the height of the basin is given in Fryer as "11 1/2 inches in depth"]

REFERENCES

  • Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 87
  • Cox, John Charles J., English Church Fittings Furniture and Accessories, London: B.T. Batsford, 1922, pl. 9, p.10
  • Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 164
  • Fryer, Alfred C., "Leaden Fonts", LVII, Archaeological Journal, 1900, pp. 40ff; p. 40ff
  • Newman, John, North East and East Kent, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1976, p. 47, 491
  • Newman, John, West Kent and the Weald, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1980, p. 47
  • Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928, p. 144
  • Wall, James Charles, Porches and Fonts, London: W. Gardner, Danton & Co., 1912, p. 280