Newark-on-Trent / Newark on Trent / Newerche

There is an entry for Newark [-on-Trent] [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SK7954/newark-on-trent/] [accessed 9 August 2019]; it reports ten churches and "10 churches. 5.0 church lands" in it. Gough (1792) writes: "The font at Newark has a circular upper part, and on the shaft the Twelve Apostles, and on the base the inscription incorrectly engraved in the new edition of the Britannia. II. Pl. I. p. 291, which should read, 'Carne in nati sunt hac ...... fonte renati." Noted in Paley (1844) as a baptismal font bearing a sculptured inscription. In Batty (1848). Cox & Harvey (1907) refer to an inscription around its base: "Carne rei natis unt hoc in Deo fonte renati", in which "the word 'Deo' is in different characters, and probably a later insersion". They also inform that a brass tablet near the font reads: "This font was demolished by the Rebels, May 9, 1646, and rebuilt by the charity of Nicholas Ridley in 1660". Described and ilustrated in Bond (1908), who informs that the people of Newark "had at the Restoration to buy new bowls for those that had been destroyed" by Cromwellian troops. He describes the inscription on the font [cf. Inscription area] as "an attempt at a hexameter" and refers to the same brass plate as Cox [cf. supra]. Described in Cox (1912): "Font broken up 1646, restored quaintly by Nicholas Ridley 1660; only lower part of stem old ; round plinth inscription, Carne rei natiy sunt hoc Deo forte renati ; font cover 1891." Described in Guilford (1927): "The font is very curious. The top half was destroyed in 1646 and restored in 1660, and so we have the anomaly of saints whose legs belong to the 14th cent, but whose lovelocks and moustaches are Carolian. A close study of the lettering on the base will show that the letters are formed of intertwined beasts of various kinds. The inscription reads ' Carne rei nati sunt, hoc Deo fonte renati'." Noted and illustrated in Pevsner & Williamson (1979), who give this as one of group of similar fonts at East Bridgford, Newark, Orston, Scarrington, Shelford, Sibthorpe, Southwell, Tythby, Walkeringham and Warton, all in Notinghamshire, all cognates and of the same period. Taylor (2004) illustrates the font with the following caption: "The fifteenth-century font at the church of St Mary Magdalene, Newark, Nottinghamshire. There are sixteen figures pictured around the plinth [sic] below (they were restored in 1660 after being damaged during the English Civil War)." The entry for this churchin Historic England [Listing NGR: SK7994553928] notes: "Parish church and attached railing. Crypt and crossing piers c1180; crossing and west tower c1220; south aisle and spire early C14; nave arcade, clerestorey and north aisle mid C15; chancel, choir, sanctuary, lady chapel and aisles, late C15; transepts and chantry chapels early C16. Library above south porch presented by Bishop White, 1698. Restored 1853 by Sir George Gilbert Scott. [...] octagonal C15 font with bowl c1660". The basin is octagonal with rounded lower sides, the moulded panels containing four demi-angels alternating with other symbols, two of which are the Baptism of Christ and an Agnus Dei; the original octagonal stem shows deeply carved figures of saints or apostles (?) under round arches; the foot of the base, octagonal also, bears the Latin inscription.