Castlethorpe / Castle Thorpe

Main image for Castlethorpe / Castle Thorpe

Image copyright © Milton Keynes Heritage Association, 2009

PERMISSION [requested] NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

Results: 5 records

view of font and cover

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Milton Keynes Heritage Association, 2009
Image Source: digital image in [http://www.mkheritage.co.uk/cv/docs/Church/chtour11-font.html] [accessed 12 April 2009]
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION [requested] NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

human figure - male - head - bearded - hair tied

Scene Description: [cf. Font notes]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Milton Keynes Heritage Association, 2009
Image Source: digital image in [http://www.mkheritage.co.uk/cv/docs/Church/chtour11-font.html] [accessed 12 April 2009]
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION [requested] NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

human figure - female - head - wearing headdress

Scene Description: [cf. Font notes]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Milton Keynes Heritage Association, 2009
Image Source: digital image in [http://www.mkheritage.co.uk/cv/docs/Church/chtour11-font.html] [accessed 12 April 2009]
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION [requested] NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

design element - motifs - moulding

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Milton Keynes Heritage Association, 2009
Image Source: digital image in [http://www.mkheritage.co.uk/cv/docs/Church/chtour11-font.html] [accessed 12 April 2009]
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION [requested] NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of church interior - south aisle - looking east

Scene Description: the top of the font and cover visible in the foreground, right corner
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Milton Keynes Heritage Association, 2009
Image Source: digital image in [http://www.mkheritage.co.uk/cv/docs/Church/chtour11-font.html] [accessed 12 April 2009]
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION [requested] NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

INFORMATION

Font ID: 01340CAS
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th century / 14th century, Norman? / Decorated?
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church [later chapel] of St. Simon and St. Jude [formerly Our Lady]
Font Location in Church: Inside the church [cf. FontNotes]
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Simon & St. Jude [formerly dedicated to St. Mary]
Site Location: Buckinghamshire, South East, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located off (N) the A5, 6 km N of Milton Keynes, near the border with Northamptonshire
Additional Comments: req for permission to repro sent to secretary of Milton Keynes Heritage Association (email of 12 april , 2009)
Font Notes:
There is no individual entry for Castle Thorpe in the Domesday survey. A font here is noted in Parker (1850) and in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Norman period. Sheahan (1862) notes: "The font is very large, and octagonal, having two sculptured human heads annexed to two of its angles." The Victoria County History (Buckingham, vol. 4, 1927) notes: "Hanslope was originally a chapelry [...] of Castle Thorpe, but by a licence granted by Bishop Grosteste (1235–53) it became the parish church in the place of the old mother church, which was thereupon annexed to it as a chapel. [...] The north arcade, which is of the late 12th century, indicates the addition of a north aisle to an already existing church at that period, but no detail of an earlier date survives. [...] The late 12th-century north arcade of the nave is of two bays with pointed arches [...] The font, which dates from the late 14th century, has a plain octagonal stem and an octagonal bowl with the carved heads of a man and woman on the west side, the latter wearing a nebule head-dress." Described and illustrated in the Parish web site [www.mkheritage.co.uk/cv/docs/Church/chtour11-font.html] [accessed 12 April 2009]: "The font, which dates from the 14th century, has a plain octagonal stem and an octaganol bowl with carved heads of a man and a woman on the west side. It is believed that the font once stood in more central position in the nave, then the faces would then have looked out into the church rather than at the wall as they do in the present position." [NB: the two heads appear to be the only ones meant to be on the font; the woman wears rich head gear; are they the donors?]. The wooden cover is plain, octagonal and flat.

COORDINATES

UTM: 30U 647969 5773583

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

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

LID INFORMATION

Material: wood, oak?
Apparatus: no
Notes: [cf. FontNotes]

REFERENCES

  • Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.
  • Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 187
  • Parker, John Henry, The Ecclesiastical and architectural topography of England: Oxfordshire, Oxford, London: Published under the sanction of the Central Commitee of the Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland [by] John Henry Parker, 1850, [entry no.] 111
  • Sheahan, James Joseph, History and topography of Buckinghamshire, comprising a general survey of the county, preceded by an epitome of the early history of Great Britain, London; Pontefract: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts; William Edward Bonas [...], 1862, p. 514