Elmswell / Elmeswell

Results: 2 records

INFORMATION

Font ID: 01213ELM
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 14th century, Decorated
Workshop/Group/Artisan: heraldic font
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. John the Divine
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, in the W end of the S aisle
Church Patron Saint(s): St. John the Evangelist
Church Address: Church Rd, Elmswell, Bury Saint Edmunds IP30 9DY, United Kingdom -- Tel.: +44 1359 240512
Site Location: Suffolk, East Anglia, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located 15-20 km E of Bury St Edmunds, just N of the A14
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich
Additional Comments: restored font: name of the restorers and the date of restoration recorded [cf. FontNotes] -- [font not yet in Knott Nov 2009]
Font Notes:
Gough (1792) writes: "septagon, having on it the word [non-Latin alphabet transcription of IHEDGE (?)] deeply engraven in large letters, and three shells in a escutcheon". Gough's footnote: "Bibl. Top, Brit. No. LII. p. 17." Poole (1842) notes three heptagonal fonts (Elmeswell in Suffolk, Bowden Mayne in Licolnshire and Bowden Magna in Leicestershire), though he remarks that they are not "worthy of special notice". Parker (1855) describes a "very fine" octagonal font of the Decorated period, "supported on four eagles; the basin is panelled with shields; five of them are charged with the letters H. E. D. G. E. consecutively, probably the name of the donor." The National Gazetteer of 1868 reports "a curious antique font" in this church. An article in the Bury and Norwich Post (12/11/1872) on the re-opening of St. John's reads: "The font, an octagonal one, bears on its faces a series of shields, one of which is blank, the next has three scallops, and the remainder bear the letters I : H : E 😀 : G : E. A search in the British Museum has shown that on the original south porch (now no longer existing) was a prayer for the soul of John Hedge and his wife, and therefore be no reasonable doubt that the erection of the font was due to his pious bounty. The font has been restored by Messrs. Rattee and Kett, of Cambridge, at the expense of the Rector's mother, Mrs. Luke, sen., and stands at the west end of the south aisle, which it is proposed to form into a baptistery." Listed in Paley (1844) as heptagonal baptismal font. Described in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font "of heptagonal shape" but, later in the same source, they write: "The octagonal font at Elmswell, Suffolk (D.) [i.e., Decorated period, 1250-1350], is a fine one, supported on four eagles; five of the panels have H., E., D., G., F. consecutively, probably the name of the donor". Bond (1908) describes it as a heptagonal bowl. Listed in Cautley (1982) in a group of 15th-century heraldic fonts in Suffolk.

COORDINATES

UTM: 31U 356675 5789241
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 52.2349, 0.901134
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 52° 14′ 5.64″ N, 0° 54′ 4.08″ E

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, type unknown
Font Shape: heptagonal, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: heptagonal

INSCRIPTION

Inscription Language: initials
Inscription Location: On 5 of the 7? or 8? panels, one letter in each
Inscription Text: "I / H / E / D / G / E"
Inscription Notes: Believed to be the initials of the donor, John Hedge [cf. FontNotes]
Inscription Source: [cf. FontNotes]

REFERENCES

  • "Elmswell, Church of St. John the Evangelist", November 12, 1872, Bury and Norwich Post, 1872
  • The National Gazetteer: a Topographical Dictionary of the British Isles, London: Virtue & Co., 1868, [www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SFK/Elmswell]
  • Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 57
  • Cautley, Henry Munro, Suffolk churches and their treasures, Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1982, p. 67
  • Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 165, 181, 220
  • Gough, Richard, "Description of the old font in the Church of East Meon, Hampshire, 1789: with some observations on fonts", X, Archaeologia, 1792, pp. 183-209; p. 194 and fn
  • Paley, Frederick Apthorp, Illustrations of Baptismal Fonts, London, UK: John van Voorst, 1844, p. 22
  • Parker, John Henry, The Ecclesiastical and architectural topography of England [...] Suffolk, 1855, [unpaged]
  • Poole, George Ayliffe, The Appropriate Character of Church Architecture, Leeds; London: T.W. Green; Rivington, Burns, and Houlston and Stoneman, 1842, p. 70
  • Pugin, Augustus Northmore Welby, The Present State of Ecclesiastical Architecture in England, London: Charles Dolman, 1843, p. 71