Steppingley / Stepigelai / Stepingle / Stepingleigh / Stepingly

No known copyright restriction / Fair Dealing

Results: 4 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

coat of arms

Scene Description: the disappeared late-Medieval font [cf. FontNotes]

view of church exterior - southeast view

Scene Description: Source caption: "St Lawrence Church , Steppingley. The church of St. Lawrence, rebuilt in 1860 by the Duke of Bedford and the rector, is a building of local sandstone in the Early Decorated and Perpendicuiar styles, consisting of chancel, nave, north aisle and a tower containing 4 bells : it is seated with open oak benches for 240 persons. The register dates from 1562, but is continuous only from 1647." [Kelly's Directory - Bedfordshire - 1898]

Image Source: digital photograph taken 17 April 2008 by Mr Biz [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/767280] [accessed 18 September 2015]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of church interior - nave - looking east

Scene Description: Source caption: "Interior of St Lawrence's Church. The Duke of Bedford and the Rector completely rebuilt the church in 1860, retaining only a piscina from the former building. The architect was Henry Clutton, and Pevsner comments on the oddity of his details." -- the modern font is partially visible on the right side of the image, lower half

Image Source: digital photograph taken 19 May 2008 by Tiger [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1121395] [accessed 18 September 2015]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of font and cover

Scene Description: the modern font

Image Source: digital photograph taken August 2011 by Brentorboxer [http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking/log/large/e2345fc1-d937-4106-93f5-ad277a44fab3.jpg] [accessed 24 October 2011]

Copyright Instructions: No known copyright restriction / Fair Dealing

INFORMATION

FontID: 01280STE

Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Lawrence

Church Patron Saints: St. Lawrence [aka Laurence]

Church Location: 7 Church End, Steppingley, Central Bedfordshire MK45 5AU

Country Name: England

Location: Bedfordshire, East

Directions to Site: Located just E of the M1, near (and to the W of) Flitwick, 16 km S of Bedford

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of St. Albans

Historical Region: Hundred of Redbornestoke

Font Location in Church: reported in the church in the early-19thC

Century and Period: 15th - 16th century, Perpendicular

Workshop/Group/Artisan: heraldic font?

Church Notes: 19thC church replaced collapsed medieval church; 15thC piscina re-used from the old church; not the old font

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

There is an entry for Steppingley [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TL0135/steppingley/] [accessed 18 September 2015], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. A font here is noted in Lysons (1806-1833) as one of a group of octagonal fonts made mostly of Totternhoe stone: "Stepingly [sic] has shields of arms". Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Perpendicular period [NB: C&H use "Stepingleigh"]. The Victoria County History (Bedford, vol. 3, 1912) notes: "The advowson of Steppingley was granted by Richard de Steppingley to Dunstable Priory in the late 12th century. [...] The [present] church of St. Lawrence is a modern building"; there is no mention of a font in the VCH entry. The present font is modern, consisting of a plain octagonal basin raised on clustered columns. [NB: we have no information on the original font of this church, nor do we know the whereabouts of the font noted in Lysons, etc., above].

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 52.008636, -0.527727

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 52° 0′ 31.09″ N, 0° 31′ 39.82″ W

UTM: 30U 669678 5764885

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, limestone [chalk / Totternhoe stone?]

Font Shape: octagonal (mounted)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal

REFERENCES

Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. Accessed: 2011-10-24 00:00:00. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.

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

Lysons, Daniel, Magna Britannia, being a concise topographical account of the several counties of Great Britain, London: Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1806-1822