Youlgreave / Youlgrave

Noted in Paley (1844) as a baptismal font with " a very remarkable appendage". Described in Bagshaw (1846) as a font of ''curious workmanship''. A rounded basin or stoup projects a little below the level of the bowl rim and has a diameter of 27 cm and an interior depth of 16.5 cm; this small basin has no own drainage and, according to some of the sources (Bond, etc.), it was used to hold a removable basin upon which the baptism by affussion was carried out. A dragon or salamander peeps out from under the stoup. The main basin of the font has sparse foliated ornament and rests on a central stem and four attached shafts, the whole looking rather heavy. Threre is an interesting watercolour of the font and the salamander motif, done in 1886 by Mrs. Bagnall Oakeley, in the Sir Henry Dryden Collection, Northamptonshire. Details of the move of the font from Elton to Youlgreave can be found in Cox (1875-1877). Cox & Harvey (1907) and Bond (1908) make it as being originally from the chapelry of Elton [cf. **NB below]. On-site notes: a dragon and fleur-de-lis around the side of the bowl; a smaller salamander around the projected stoup; the smaller stoup has a diameter (inside) 24 x 20 cm and depth of 12 cm; there is no drainage in the smaller basin; base confirmed as described by Cox, Bond, etc. Tyrrell-Green (1928) makes the "subsidiary bowl" a place "to contain the holy oil or for the spoon to rest in" and makes reference to several French fonts with similar protrusions. **NB: in a footnote in Bond (ibid.): "This font has a curious history. It was originally in the neighbouring chapel-of-ease at Elton. This was wrecked by the fall of the spire, and its font was removed to his garden by the Vicar of Youlgreave in 1838. In 1848 a new base and new shafts were provided for it, and it was placed in Youlgreave Church. In 1870 the Elton people claimed it, but they were pacified by the present of a facsimile of it. -W.M." Illustrated in Needham (1944). Noted in Pevsner (1978) with suggested date ca. 1200, "brought from Elton church in 1838". [cf. Index entry for Warslow, Staffordshire, for the original font from Youlgreave]