Eydon / Egedone

There is an entry for Eydon [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SP5450/eydon/] [accessed 2 November 2014], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. The font here is illustrated in a August 1837 watercolour watercolour by Henry E.L. Dryden, in the Sir Henry Dryden Collection, Northamptonshire; Dryden annotated the painting: "Transitional style from Norman to Early English". Described and illustrated in Paley (1844): Norman chalice font of heavy design. The round basin has thin band of foliage pattern under the rim; below, a blind arcade of tall rib-like arches. The centre ring has a braid motif. The lower base, dated by Paley (ibid.) as later than the basin, takes the form of an inverted cushion capital with eight panels of conventional foliage. The font may be derivative of earlier Aylesbury font types. Paley reports the stone as being of "a soft, chalky nature" and therefore much decayed now (i.e., 1844). Described and illustrated in Bond (1908) as a baptismal font of the late 12th or early 13th-century. Noted in Mee (1945): "The 12th century font is lovely with a rim of wreathed fleur-de-lys and thistles." In Pevsner & Cherry (1973): "Norman. The base is like an octagonal scalloped capital reversed (cf. Buckinghamshire fonts). Big leaf in the scallops. The bow is circular and fluted with a band of foliage at the top. Foot and bowl are joined by a rope-moulding." Described and illustrated in the CRSBI (2014): "a spectacularly ugly piece, elaborately, if inaccurately carved, with similarities to the Buckinghamshire group [...] The bowl is a very irregular tub carved with fluting, which terminates in a scalloped upper edge. Above this, the rim is carved with a series of indeterminately claw-shaped leaves, many broken off. The lower rim of the bowl is marked by a triple row of cable which projects like a shelf. The bowl is carried on an octagonal base in the form of an inverted eight-scallop capital. Each shield is dished and carved in relief with a symmetrical foliage design" [the CRSBI adds an individual description of each 'shield']. With regards the workshop and dating, the CRSBI states: "The font must be connected to the Aylesbury group, from which it copies all of its features without being an exact copy of any of them. It is certainly not the product of that highly-skilled workshop, as its inaccurate blocking out and straight-sided bowl amply demonstrate. The rogue N arcade pier and capital described above are so plain as to defy dating, but the form of the impost and an overall rough-and-ready solidity suggest to the present author a date well before the double-chamfered arcade they support, and a date towards the end of the 12thc. is tentatively offered." The SCRAN database [www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-000-653-557-C] [accessed 6 April 2009] reports a painting of this font [Watercolour of the font, St. Nicholas church, Eydon Scran ID: 000-000-653-557-C Resource Rights Holder: Northamptonshire Libraries and Information Service (X4L RAPID)]