Pershore No. 1 / Kempsey / Pearshore / Perseore / Persore / Psore

Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 8 June 2019)

Results: 16 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

design element - architectural - arcade - round arches - intersecting arches - beaded-tape

Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 August 2018 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 8 June 2019)

design element - motifs - floral or foliage

Scene Description: in the spandrels of the lower arcade; chiefly trefoiled

Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 August 2018 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 8 June 2019)

design element - motifs - foliage

Scene Description: in all the spandrels of the upper arcade or vine

Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 August 2018 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 8 June 2019)

design element - motifs - moulding

Scene Description: much damaged now; it appears to have had patterned decoration on it

Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 August 2018 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 8 June 2019)

design element - motifs - rope moulding

Scene Description: much damaged, as shown in this image

Image Source: digital phtograph taken 8 June 2000 by Eric Hardy [http://www.flickr.com/photos/erichardyuk/317087294/] [accessed 2 June 2010]

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

design element - motifs - vine?

Scene Description: the upper side of the basin shows much damage and areas of insert-stone replacement; the decoration appears to vary; in the centre left here shows as a set of ondulating lines with motifs inserted in the upper spandrels; above it here is just a groove, whereas on the right, where the vine is damaged, it shows a line of bead pattern; it could have been originally differrent in different areas of the basin sides, yet maintaining the shape of a set of linked arch-heads

Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 August 2018 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 8 June 2019)

design element - patterns - scalloped

Scene Description: all around; much damaged now

Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 August 2018 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 8 June 2019)

human figure - seated - 13

Scene Description: in the arcade; are they holy figures?

Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 August 2018 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 8 June 2019)

view of basin

Scene Description: showing the large damage and repair on the right side of the basin

Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 August 2018 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 8 June 2019)

view of basin

Scene Description: showing the damage and repairs to this side, especially around the upper rim

Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 August 2018 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 8 June 2019)

view of church exterior

Scene Description: Source caption: "Pershore Abbey and St Andrew's church. St Andrew's church was deconsecrated in 1972, the church was used for worship until the 1960s and dates from the late 12th century. In the background is Pershore Abbey."

Image Source: digital photograph taken 23 November 2008 by Philip Halling [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1058292] [accessed 15 October 2014]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of church exterior - southwest view

Scene Description: Source caption: "Pershore Abbey viewed from the south-west, only the choir and south transept survive from the medieval abbey, the nave was demolished at the time of the Reformation in 1539, and the north transept collapsed in 1689. With the nave gone the tower was in danger of collapse and in 1913 the two large buttresses were built to support it.."

Image Source: digital photograph taken 23 November 2008 by Philip Halling [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1058262] [accessed 15 October 2014]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of church exterior in context - west view

Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 August 2018 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 8 June 2019)

view of church interior - nave - looking east

Scene Description: Source caption: "The nave of Pershore Abbey was demolished at the dissolution and only the chancel and south transept survive. The chancel is now the main body of the abbey."

Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 September 2013 by Philip Halling [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3657683] [accessed 15 October 2014]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of font and cover

Scene Description: the cover, the lower half of the stem, the lower base and the plinth are modern [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 21 July 2013 by Martinevans123 [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pershore_Abbey_font.jpg] [accessed 21 January 2015]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of font and cover

Image Source: digital photograph taken 14 August 2018 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 8 June 2019)

INFORMATION

FontID: 01122PER

Church/Chapel: Abbey Church of Holy Cross with Saint Edburgha / Pershore Abbey of the Holy Cross [across from the abbey is the church of St. Andrews, but the font is in the abbey church itself now]

Church Patron Saints: The Holy Cross with St. Eadburga

Church Location: Church Walk, Pershore, Worcestershire WR10 1BN

Country Name: England

Location: Worcestershire, West Midlands

Directions to Site: Located just SE of Worcester. Holy Cross and St. Andrew are side-by-sde

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Worcester

Historical Region: Hundred of Pershore

Font Location in Church: Inside the church, in the NW side, near the N transept and the Hazelwood-Hungerford monument

Century and Period: 12th century (late?) [basin only] [composite font], Medieval [composite]

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Colin Smith for his photographs of this church and font

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

There are four entries for Persore [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SO9445/pershore/] [accessed 15 October 2014], one of which, in the lordship of Westminster St. Peter's abbey, reports a church in it. Noake (1848) writes: "The present font is a small wooden contrivance, lined with lead, and containing a basin; the whole is stowed away at the end of one of the aisles, the projector of the article having evidently been ashamed of it after its completion. The ancient stone font belonging to the abbey church was for many years used as a drinking trough for cattle, on a farm about a mile from the town; it was then purchased by a gentleman to adorn his lawn at Kempsey." Miller (1890) writes: "The church and abbey, being built of wood, were burnt a.d. 1000, and a second time on St. Urban's Day, 1223. The abbey and town were again almost totally consumed by fire, 1287. [...] The Church of Holy Cross, once the Church of the Abbey of Pershore, was originally built in Norman days. A great portion having been destroyed by fire it was rebuilt 1223-1239. The Norman nave was preserved and remained till the dissolution of the monasteries when it was pulled down, as well as the lady chapel. About 100 years later the north transept fell. All that now remains of the old Abbey Church are the choir, south transept, and tower. What remains is a perfect gem." The Victoria County History (Worcester, vol. 3, 1913) informs that in the village of Kempsey, "between Kerswell and Baynhall is The Nash, the seat of Lieut-Col. Sir Richard Carnac church, bart.", and in the hall of this house, "is also an early font originally in Pershoe Abbey. The bowl is circular with a line of interlacing arches enriched with nail-head ornament and having thirteen seated figures within them. The stem, resting on a modern base, has a band of scallops and a cable moulding". The following volume of the VCH (Worcester, vol. 4, 1924) notes: "A 12th-century font was given after one of the restorations of the church by the vicar to the owner of 'The Nash,' Kempsey, near Worcester, and is still there." Described in Campling (1986): "Beautiful Norman font was turned out of the church and used as a cattle trough. It was then bought for a garden in Kempsey and restored to the Abbey in 1921"; round tub-like bowl; an upper band bears ondulating, wave like motif; the bottom has a protruding ring which marks the beginning of an underbowl of simple, radial ornamentation; the side of the bowl has figues framed within pointed arches made up of semicircular bands which cross forming spandrels that take the shape of acanthus plants/trees; the base and plinth are modern and match the colour of the old bowl. Brooks & Pevsner (2007) identify the figures as Christ and the Apostles; they note the top of the shaft as added by [Sir Harold] Brakspear in 1920, and the cover of 1951 by Claude E.A. Andrews; the suggested date for the original font is the second quarter of the 12th century. The web site for Pershore Tourist Information Centre [www.britainexpress.com/counties/worcestershire/az/pershore.htm], and the site for Britannia: America's Gateway to the British Isles [www.britannia.com] report the font back in the Abbey from its earlier wanderings. [cf. Index entry for Kempsey No. 2 for a Victorian font at Kempsey St Mary's]

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 52.110321, -2.077345

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 52° 6′ 37.16″ N, 2° 4′ 38.44″ W

UTM: 30U 563184 5773710

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, type unknown

Font Shape: tub-shaped (round - mounted)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: round

Drainage Notes: lead lining

LID INFORMATION

Date: 1951

Material: wood, oak

Apparatus: no

Notes: [cf. FontNotes]

REFERENCES

Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. Accessed: 2010-05-20 00:00:00. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.

Brooks, Alan, Worcestershire, New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2007

Campling, Christopher R., Pershore Abbey: an illustrated guide, Crawley, UK: Garrod & Lofthouse, 1986?

Miller, George [Revd.], The Parishes of the Diocese of Worcester, Birmingham: Hall & English, 1890

Noake, John, The rambler in Worcestershire, or, Stray notes on churches and congregations, Worcester: Published and sold by all booksellers, 1848

Pevsner, Nikolaus, Nottinghamshire, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1979