Wroxeter / Rochecestre / Uriconium / Viroconium

Image and permission received (letter of 26 October 2013)

Results: 11 records

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design element - motifs - moulding

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 12 May 2012 by Timothy Marlow

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (letter of 26 October 2013)

design element - motifs - roll moulding - 2 - parallel

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 12 May 2012 by Timothy Marlow

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (letter of 26 October 2013)

view of basin

Image Source: woodcut of a drawing by J.C. Anderson, in Anderson (1867)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of church exterior - south view

Image Source: digital photograph taken 5 October 2009 by Peter Comeau [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1754377] [accessed 8 February 2013]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of church interior - nave - looking east

Image Source: digital photograph taken 5 October 2009 by Peter Comeau [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1754391] [accessed 8 February 2013]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of font

Image Source: Tyrrell-Green (1928: fig. 4)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of font

Image Source: Bond (1908)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of font

Image Source: digital image of a watercolour by Edwin H. Judd dated Jan. 1952, in www.darwincountry.org]

Copyright Instructions: No known copyright restriction – Fair Dealing

view of font

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 12 May 2012 by Timothy Marlow

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (letter of 26 October 2013)

view of font and cover

Image Source: digital photograph taken 11 September 2009 by Chelmsfordblue Nick [www.flickr.com/photos/29356515@N00/3922485365/] [accessed 8 February 2013]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of font and cover in context

Image Source: digital photograph taken 12 May 2012 by Timothy Marlow

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (letter of 26 October 2013)

INFORMATION

FontID: 01088WRO

Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Andrew [originally from Uriconium basilica?]

Church Patron Saints: St. Andrew

Church Location: Wroxeter, Shropshire SY5 6PL

Country Name: England

Location: Shropshire, West Midlands

Directions to Site: Located on the B4380, 10 km EES of Shrewsbury

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Salisbury

Historical Region: Hundred of Wrockwardine [in Domesday] -- Hundred of South Bradford -- Salop

Font Location in Church: Inside the church, by the entrance

Century and Period: 11th - 12th century [altered Anglo-Roman base/capital], Norman[altered]

Cognate Fonts: The basin may be considered somewhat similar to the shape of the one at Hexham -- another such Anglo-Roman (?) re-cut in Norman times at Shrewsbury No. 2

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Timothy Marlow for his photographs of this font

Church Notes: church now redundant and in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

There is an entry for Wroxeter [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SJ5608/wroxeter/] [accessed 28 February 2015], and it mentions four priests and a church in it [cf. infra]. Anderson (1864) notes that the church at 'Rochecestre' with four priests is mentioned in Domesday Book, originally a Saxon collegiate foundation. Illustrated with a woodcut from a drawing by J.C. Anderson in Anderson (1867) The Gentleman's Magazine (issue of July-Dec, 1860) reports on a paper delived by the Rev. H.M. Scarth to a gathering ot the British Archaeological Society, in which he stated: "this font consists of a portion of an ancient Roman column, adapted to its present purpose by being hollowed out, and must have existed previous to the Saxon occupation." Romilly Allen (1888) mentions Wroxeter's as one of several "fonts made out of Roman columns". Described in Cox & Harvey (1907) as the drum of a Roman column re-cycled as a baptismal font. Described and illustrated in Bond (1908) as a baptismal font weighing about two tons and looking "like a Roman base turned upside down; the rough beadings of the rim may have been worked in Anglo-Saxon days. [...] It is said to have been taken from the neighbouring basilica of Uriconium, burnt by the West Saxons c. 596". Described and illustrated in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as one of several fonts [Hexham, Kenchester and Over Denton are others] made by re-using Roman dressed stones. It is raised now on an octagonal plinth. Listed in Stocker (1997) as "Wroxteter" with reference to Bond [cf. supra] as having a base/capital of Anglo-Roman origin. Image source: Church fonts from Shrewsbury Abbey and Wroxeter. Ink and watercolour. 1952. Artist: Edwin H. Judd. Shrewsbury Museums Service. (SHYMS: FA/1994/09). Image sy1057. © Shrewsbury Museums Service. Noted in Newman & Pevsner (2006).

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 52.6701, -2.6472

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 52° 40′ 12.36″ N, 2° 38′ 49.92″ W

UTM: 30U 523857 5835631

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, type unknown

Number of Pieces: one

Font Shape: cylindrical (mounted)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: round

Rim Thickness: 20 cm [calculated]

Diameter (inside rim): 72.5 cm**

Diameter (includes rim): 112.5 cm* / 112.5 cm**

Notes on Measurements: * in ft/in in Bond (1908: 99) / ** Judd's watercolour of 1952 [cf. Images area]

LID INFORMATION

Date: 19th century?

Material: wood, oak?

Apparatus: no

Notes: flat and round, with metal decoration and ring handle

REFERENCES

Allen, J. Romilly, "On the Antiquity of Fonts in Great Britain", XLIV, Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 1888, pp. 164-173; r["References"]

Anderson, John Corbet, Shropshire, its early history and antiquities, comprising […], London: Willis and Sotheran, 1864

Anderson, John Corbet, The Roman city of Uriconium at Wroxeter, Salop, London: J. Russell Smith, 1867

Betjeman, John, An American's Guide to English Parish Churches (including the Isle of Man), New York: McDowell, Obolensky, 1958

Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908

Cox, John Charles J., English Church Fittings Furniture and Accessories, London: B.T. Batsford, 1922

Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907

Newman, John, Shropshire, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006

Stocker, D.A., "Fons et origo: The Symbolic Death and Resurrection of English Font Stones", I (1997b), Church Archaeology, 1997, pp. 17-25; r["References"]

Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928