Marton nr. Stoke-on-Trent No. 1 / Meretone / Merutune

INFORMATION

Font ID: 01427MAR
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Date: ca. 1871?
Font Century and Period/Style: 19th century?
Church / Chapel Name: Church of St. James and St. Paul
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Church Patron Saint(s): St. James & St. Paul
Church Address: Congleton Rd, Marton, Macclesfield SK11 9HF, UK -- Tel.: +44 1260 224447
Site Location: Cheshire, North West, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located of the A34, 5-6 km N of Congleton, about 20 km N of Stoke-on-Trent, S of Manchester
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Chester
Historical Region: Hundred of Hamestan
Font Notes:
There are two entries for this Marton [variant spellings] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SJ8468/marton/] [accessed 3 October 2019], neither of which mentions cleric or church in it. Cox & Harvey (1907: 189) write: "The font of Marton is remarkable. It is a large leaden four-sided bason, with wooden supports, on a stone base, and enclosed in wood, with wood and iron cover. It is thus described in Mr. Atkinson's additions (1893) to Sir Stephen Glynne's notes. But this strange and incongruous pretext for a font must be modern, for Sir Stephen Glynne, in 1853, entered 'the font a plain octagonal bowl.' We suppose the old octagon was swept away during a restoration of 1871. It would not have been worth while noting this 'font' in any way, only it has more than once, of late years, been blunderingly added to the list of old lead fonts." Tyrrell-Green (1928: 142) calls it "a restoration, the woodwork being of a modern type." Pevsner (1971) notes: "Font, square, of timber, High Victorian. It may date from the time of Butterfield's restoration" [i.e., 1871]. Richards (1973) writes: "The font is interesting, being a shallow wooden bowl, with a lead trough fitted inside." The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SJ8502467994] notes; "Church. c1370. Restored by J M Derick in 1850 and by William Butterfield in 1871"; no font mentioned. [cf. Index entry for Marton No. 2 for the earlier font from this church]

COORDINATES

UTM: 30U 551712 5895778
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 53.2088, -2.2257
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 53° 12′ 31.68″ N, 2° 13′ 32.52″ W

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: wood and metal, lead
Font Shape: square, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: square
Basin Exterior Shape: square
Drainage Notes: lead lining or basin

LID INFORMATION

Date: 1871?
Material: wood and iron

REFERENCES

  • Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 189
  • Pevsner, Nikolaus, Cheshire, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1971, p. 278
  • Richards, Raymond, Old Cheshire churches: a survey of their history, fabric and furniture with records of the older monuments, with a supplementary survey relating to the lesser old chapels of Cheshire, Didsbury, Manchester: E.J. Morten, 1973, p. 230
  • Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928, p. 142