Exeter No. 1 / Execestre / Exonia

There are eighteen entries for Exeter [variant spellings] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SX9292/exeter/] [accessed 13 May 2018], of which two mention a church in it. A letter from 'Old Cliftonian' on the subject of Exeter St. Martin's printed in The Western Antiquary (issue of May 1887, vol. VI, no. 12, #199, p. 300) notes: "the font is of Purbeck marble, with a curious holy water stoup at side". Described and illustrated in Bond (1908) as a baptismal font with a slanted side drain that connects to the main vertical drain. Stabb (1908) writes at length of this font: "The font [...] is, I believe, unique in Devonshire in possessing the bowl at the side to take the water dripping from the child at a baptism. It used to be the custom to consecrate the water for baptism once or twice a year, when the font was filled. When submersion was the general use, it was the practice to use the water over and over again, but after a time people became more scrupulous, and when affusion became general, it was even felt wrong to allow the water falling from the child's head to return into the font. Different plans were devised to prevent this; in some cases the font was divided into two parts, in others a smaller basin was attached to the side of the font to catch the water. I think in this font we have an example of the latter custom. I found by blowing down the main drain, that the hole in the projection on the shaft communicated with the main drain, and I do not think that there is a doubt that we have here a specimen of the secondary bowl. The position certainly seems inconvenient, but allowance must be made for the fact that the present top is comparatively modern, and is most probably larger and deeper than the original one, besides, these small bowls were often used for pouring away the water that had been received in a vessel held by an assistant at the baptism." Noted in Cox (1923?: 19). Listed in Leach (1975) as a font made of Purbeck marble, "recut; the support is later".

On-site notes: the font has a side appendage on the upper part of the stem of the base; this has a drain that connects to the central drain of the font; the font is plain and unadorned. [NB: visited but no measurements taken]