Winterborne Whitechurch / Winterbourne Whitechurch / Winterborne Whitchurch

Gough (1792) writes: "The font at Winterborne Whitchurch, Dorset, is of a very singular form, standing on a carved shaft with four pillars at the corners adorned with purfled finials, and with shields charged with arms and inscriptions alternately". Lewis' 'Topographical Dictionary of England' (1831 and 1848) mentions a curious ancient font in this church. Noted in the Handbook ofor travellers… (1869). Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a heraldic baptismal font of the Perpendicular period. Described in Bond (1908) as a baptismal font of the same type as Queen's Camel and Bradford Abbas: the bowl rests on central stem but has non-constructional legs at the corners charmingly hollowed into niches. According to an inscription and drawing which appeared in Hutchins (1861-1873) the third shield contained a text from Mark 16: 16, and the name of William Holloway, churchwarden, both inscribed on the shield before 1757. Hutchins (ibid.) identifies the emblem on another shield, "three herrings hauriant in fess", as the arms of John Herring, lord of nearby Clenston manor, and the other, "a fess dauncette between three lions rampant", as the arms of the Rochford of Whitchurch; the fourth shield contains the monogram IHS. Hutchins (ibid. further notes that "a similar font occurs at Bradford Abbas". The drawing "was made by William Shave, parish-clerk, and a carpenter" according to the old inscription (a new legend explains the source of the drawing as well as some of the changes made to the font). The polygonal wooden cover is pyramidal, of a later date, probably 17th century. The Rev. Samuel Wesley, father of John and Charles Wesley, founders of the Methodists, was born here and probably baptised in this font. Long (1923) describes it as one of the best two Perpendicular fonts in Dorset [the other one, quite similar in design, is at Bradford Abbas]. The RCHM (1970) identifies the emblems thus: 1)NE: IHS in black-letter; 2)SE: blank; 3)SW: arms of Herring; 4)NW: arms of Rochford; it dates the font to the mid-15th century, and the cover to the 17th century. Mee (1939) dates the font to the 14th century and describes the cover as Jacobean. In Newman & Pevsner (1972). Fully illustrated in Gerald Duke [www.martinstown.co.uk] with the following note: "According to a drawing in the Bodleian Library (Gough Maps, Dorset, f.76) the blank shield formerly bore the inscription: 'He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved' (Mark 16:16). William Holloway Churchwarden 1757'". The present location of the font reportedly dates to the aftermath of the 1867 fire in this church.