Witcham / Wiceham

Main image for Witcham / Wiceham

Image copyright © Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004

Standing permission

Results: 18 records

angel - holding censer

Scene Description: in shallow relief, on one of the sides of the basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph by Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004, in Cambridgeshire Churches [http://www.druidic.org/camchurch/churches/witcham.htm] [accessed 23 December 2007]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

animal - bird - eagle

Scene Description: much damaged, in shallow relief, on one of the sides of the basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: Bond (1908: 312)
Copyright Instructions: PD

animal - fabulous animal or monster - dragon

Scene Description: in shallow relief, on one of the sides of the basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph by Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004, in Cambridgeshire Churches [http://www.druidic.org/camchurch/churches/witcham.htm] [accessed 23 December 2007]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

animal - fabulous animal or monster - dragon - with coiled tail

Scene Description: in shallow relief, on one of the sides of the basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph by Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004, in Cambridgeshire Churches [http://www.druidic.org/camchurch/churches/witcham.htm] [accessed 23 December 2007]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - motifs - foliage

Scene Description: on at least one of the capitals of the outer colonnettes of the base
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph by Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004, in Cambridgeshire Churches [http://www.druidic.org/camchurch/churches/witcham.htm] [accessed 23 December 2007]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - motifs - moulding

Scene Description: on the capitals and bases of the outer colonnettes of the base
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph by Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004, in Cambridgeshire Churches [http://www.druidic.org/camchurch/churches/witcham.htm] [accessed 23 December 2007]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

head - grotesque or fantastic

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph by Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004, in Cambridgeshire Churches [http://www.druidic.org/camchurch/churches/witcham.htm] [accessed 23 December 2007]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

head - grotesque or fantastic

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph by Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004, in Cambridgeshire Churches [http://www.druidic.org/camchurch/churches/witcham.htm] [accessed 23 December 2007]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

human figure - female - head - wearing elaborate headdress

Scene Description: on a basin side, between the censing angel and one of the dragons
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph by Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004, in Cambridgeshire Churches [http://www.druidic.org/camchurch/churches/witcham.htm] [accessed 23 December 2007]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

human figure - female - head - wearing headdress

Scene Description: a second female head wearing head-dress, to the right of the first one, with one of the dragon sides in between -- the head-dress here is less elaborate
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph by Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004, in Cambridgeshire Churches [http://www.druidic.org/camchurch/churches/witcham.htm] [accessed 23 December 2007]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font - detail

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph by Mark Ynys-Mon, in Cambridgeshire Churches, [http://www.druidic.org/camchurch/churches/witcham.htm] [accessed 23 December 2007]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font - detail

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Cambridge Historic Churches Trust, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph 2006 in Cambridge Historic Churches Trust [http://www.cambshistoricchurchestrust.co.uk/gallery.htm] [accessed 18 October 2007]
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of font - detail

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Cambridge Historic Churches Trust, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph 2006 in Cambridge Historic Churches Trust [http://www.cambshistoricchurchestrust.co.uk/gallery.htm] [accessed 18 October 2007]
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of font - detail

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Cambridge Historic Churches Trust, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph 2006 in Cambridge Historic Churches Trust [http://www.cambshistoricchurchestrust.co.uk/gallery.htm] [accessed 18 October 2007]
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of font - detail

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Cambridge Historic Churches Trust, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph 2006 in Cambridge Historic Churches Trust [http://www.cambshistoricchurchestrust.co.uk/gallery.htm] [accessed 18 October 2007]
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of font - detail

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Cambridge Historic Churches Trust, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph 2006 in Cambridge Historic Churches Trust [http://www.cambshistoricchurchestrust.co.uk/gallery.htm] [accessed 18 October 2007]
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of font - detail

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Cambridge Historic Churches Trust, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph 2006 in Cambridge Historic Churches Trust [http://www.cambshistoricchurchestrust.co.uk/gallery.htm] [accessed 18 October 2007]
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of font and cover

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph by Mark Ynys-Mon, 2004, in Cambridgeshire Churches [http://www.druidic.org/camchurch/churches/witcham.htm] [accessed 23 December 2007]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

INFORMATION

FontID: 01402WIT
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Martin
Church Patron Saints: St. Martin of Tours
Church Location: High Street, Witcham, Cambridgeshire CB6 2LQ
Country Name: England
Location: Cambridgeshire, East
Directions to Site: Located 8 km W of Ely, just N of the A142
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Ely
Historical Region: Hundred of Ely 1 [in Domesday] -- Hundred of South Witchford
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Century and Period: 12th - 13th century, Late Norman / Early English?
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Mark Ynys-Mon, of Cambridgeshire Churches, for the photographs of this font]
Font Notes:
There is an entry for Witcham [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TL4680/witcham/] [accessed 25 April 2016], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Cox & Harvey (1907) include the noteworthy baptismal font at this church among the best Early English fonts in the county. Described and illustrated in Bond (1908) as a 13th-century stone baptismal font ornamented with some foliage indicative of the transition from Romanesque to Gothic; the octagonal basin has high-relief heads protruding low on every other side, and lower-relief animals (one is an eagle) on the other(s); the basin rests on a round central stem and four outer shafts; the lower base or plinth on which the columns rest is round. One of the upper sides of the basin shows the type of damage consistent with the forceful removal of the cover staples. Kelly's Directory of 1929, transcribed in GENUKI [www.genuki.org.uk] has it as "a Norman font with curious carved figures". Noted in Pevsner (1970): "Font. Octagonal, on five shafts; c.1300. Heads at the angles, and in the main directions an angel, two dragons, an eagle." The Victoria County History (Cambridge..., vol. 4, 2002) notes: "The earliest part of the fabric is the chancel, which belongs to the first half of the 13th century, and the tower is of approximately the same date. [...] The 13th-century font has an octagonal bowl, the sides of which are carved with human heads alternating with grotesques and in one case a censing angel; it rests on five shafts with moulded caps and bases." Described and illustrated in the Cambridge Churches (2004) web site [www.druidic.org/camchurch] [accessed 23 December 2007]. Listed as a limestone font of the 12th century in the East Cambridgeshire District Council (2002) web page [www.eastcambs.gov.uk].

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 52.398441, 0.150335
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 52° 23′ 54.39″ N, 0° 9′ 1.21″ E
UTM: 31U 306131 5809176

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, limestone
Font Shape: octagonal (mounted)
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal

LID INFORMATION

Date: modern?
Material: wood
Apparatus: no
Notes: octagonal, plain and flat

REFERENCES

The Victoria History of the Counties of England: A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely, 2002
Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. Accessed: 2016-04-25 00:00:00. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.
Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908
Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907
Kelly, Kelly's Directory of Cambridgeshire, London: Kelly's Directories Ltd., 1929
Pevsner, Nikolaus, Cambridgeshire, Harmonsworth: Penguin, 1970