Wychling / Wichling

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."
A communcation to BSI from Pol Herman (e-mail of 8 February 2026) includes an article from Paula Jardine-Rose entirled THE LEAD FONT AT THE CHURCH OF ST MARGARET, WYCHLING, in Archaeologia Cantiana , Volume 140. Maidstone: Kent Archaeological Society [https://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/journal/140/lead-font-church-st-margaret-wychling] [accessed 8 February 2026]: "This report on the Wychling lead font includes new research and analytical tests carried out on the vessel, concluding that the vessel is likely to have been built using a Roman lead decorative panel, possibly from a sarcophagus. It explains that the vessel was constructed during the early Saxon period using known Saxon lead working methods and that the XRF evidence supports the deposition of bone material within the vessel, suggesting that its original function was related to a funerary process [...] To conclude, it is important that we do not just view the Wychling Font as an historic object alone, however magnificent an example it is. The context of the vessel is uniquely linked to the site as a whole and as such remains sacred. For over a hundred years it has been the Baptismal Font of our church and as such continues to be a treasured item in the life of all who have been baptised in it and in the life of the church community itself. As in all research, it is likely that more will be discovered about these lead vessels in the future but for the present this statement from an authority underlines the place currently held by the Wychling font [fn24] "The Wychling font ... leaves no room for doubt that it is one of the Anglo-Saxon bucket-like tanks found on various archaeological sites in eastern England ... the Wychling font is primus inter pares: the fact that it is complete, undamaged and so magnificently decorated puts it firmly at the head of the league." [fn24: By Warwick Rodwell, consultant archaeologist for Westminster Abbey.]