Wiston nr. Colchester / Wissington / Weston

Results: 17 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

B01: angel - holding shield - coat of arms

Image Source: BSI - Photographed July 2000

B02: angel - holding crown

Image Source: BSI - Photographed July 2000

B03: angel - holding shield - coat of arms

Image Source: BSI - Photographed July 2000

B04: angel - holding shield - coat of arms

Image Source: BSI - Photographed July 2000

B05: angel - holding shield - coat of arms

Image Source: BSI - Photographed July 2000

B06: angel - holding musical instrument - type of lute?

Image Source: BSI - Photographed July 2000

B07: angel - holding shield - coat of arms

Image Source: BSI - Photographed July 2000

B08: angel - holding musical instrument - zither?

Scene Description: Paley (1844) suggests a dulcimer

Image Source: BSI - Photographed July 2000

BBU01: design element - patterns - crenellated

Scene Description: a crenellated pattern all around the upper rim.

Image Source: BSI - Photographed July 2000

LB01: design element - architectural - arch - trefoiled - 2

Scene Description: Two trefoil arches at each of two levels (top and bottom) on each of the eight sides of the pedestal base.

Image Source: BSI - Photographed July 2000

P01: animal - mammal - lion - couchant - 4

Image Source: BSI - Photographed July 2000

view of church exterior - south porch

Image Source: BSI - Photographed July 2000

view of church exterior - south portal - tympanum

Image Source: BSI - Photographed July 2000

view of church exterior - southeast view

Image Source: BSI - Photographed July 2000

view of church interior - detail

Image Source: BSI - Photographed July 2000

view of font

Image Source: engraving in Paley (1844: unpaged]

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of font

Image Source: BSI - Photographed July 2000

INFORMATION

FontID: 01197WIS

Object Type: Baptismal Font1

Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Mary

Church Patron Saints: St. Mary the Virgin

Church Location: Nayland, Colchester CO6 4LU , United Kingdom

Country Name: England

Location: Suffolk, East Anglia

Directions to Site: Wissington, a.k.a. and pronounced "Wiston" is, with Stoke-by-Nayland, in the outer reaches of Suffolk, near Essex, closer to Colchester than to Ipswich. Access is from "a narrow by-road from the Bures-to-Nayland road, which peters out into a private lane across the Wissington Hall estate. You must leave your car before entering the estate." (S. Knott)

Font Location in Church: West end, in front of the organ

Century and Period: 15th century (early?), Perpendicular

Workshop/Group/Artisan: heraldic font

Church Notes: The church displays the coats of arms for England, and those of the Swynbornes [i.e., Swinbourne], owners of the manor house in the 15th century, and of the De Veres, relatives of the former. There are 13th-century mural paintings in this church [cf. Knott [http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/wissington.htm] for details and illustrations]

Font Notes: Click to view

Described and illustrated in Paley (1844) [NB: Paley has caption: "Weston" under the illustration, but "Wiston" in the text]. Noted in Parker (1855) as an octagonal font of the Perpendicular period "with panelled bowl". Octagonal mounted font. The basin, which has a crenellated upper rim and the bust of an angel with open wings in each of the eight basin sides; each angel holds an object (1-8, L->R): shield, crown, shield, shield, shield, musical string instrument [lute?], another [different, a dulcimer?] musical instrument (Paley identified in 1844 the following shield emblems: a cross, an emblem of the Trinity, the royal arms, the arms of the Vere, and the arms of the Swinbourne [though he does mention some heraldic irregularities in the charges]. The pedestal base is also octagonal and has two levels, an arcade of double trefoil arches at each level. The octagonal plinth has couchant lions. Bond (1908) mentions that the font rests on animals. Listed in Cautley (1982) as a heraldic font of the 15th century. Knott (2008) writes: " the font [...] is unique in Suffolk. There is one detail in particular on it that I like very much. The lions at its base are not sitting up, alert, as is common in East Anglia. They are lying down, as though the rural idyll of this place, and its ageless peace, have at last overcome them, and they have surrendered themselves to sleep."

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 51.9634, 0.843

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 51° 57′ 48.24″ N, 0° 50′ 34.8″ E

UTM: 31U 351808 5759165

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, type unknown

Font Shape: octagonal (mounted)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal

Drainage Notes: lead lining

Rim Thickness: 13-15 cm

Diameter (inside rim): 50 cm

Basin Depth: 27 cm

Height of Basin Side: 40 cm

Basin Total Height: 50 cm

Height of Base: 65 cm

Basin Upper Panel Dimensions: 30 x 30 cm (or 27-28 cm without border)

Font Height (less Plinth): 115 cm (Paley gives 127.5 cm)

Font Height (with Plinth): 136 cm

Trapezoidal Basin: 76 x 89 cm (min.&max. diagonal of the octagon)

Notes on Measurements: BSI

LID INFORMATION

Date: modern

Material: wood

Notes: Flat octagonal lid

REFERENCES

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

Cautley, Henry Munro, Suffolk Churches and their Treasures, London: Batsford, 1938

Cautley, Henry Munro, Suffolk churches and their treasures, Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1982

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

Knott, Simon, The Suffolk Churches Site, Simon Knott, 1999-. [standing permission to reproduce images received from Simon [February 2005]. URL: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk.

Paley, Frederick Apthorp, Illustrations of Baptismal Fonts, London, UK: John van Voorst, 1844

Parker, John Henry, The Ecclesiastical and architectural topography of England [...] Suffolk, 1855