Helpringham / Helpericham / Helperincham

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Results: 10 records

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Christ - Agnus Dei - passant - with cross and banner

Scene Description: on the east side of the font

Image Source: digital image of an engraving by Robert Roberts of en engraving by F. Simpson Junior, in Simpson (1828)

Copyright Instructions: PD

animal - bird

Scene Description: perhaps two: one between the foliage, the other above the Agnus Dei, on the upper left

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 6 June 2015 by J. Hannan-Briggs [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4514773] [accessed 24 November 2018]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

design element - architectural - arcade - Gothic arches

Scene Description: on three of the sides of the basin: N, S, W

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 6 June 2015 by J. Hannan-Briggs [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4514773] [accessed 24 November 2018]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

design element - architectural - column - 4

Scene Description: at 90-degree angles on the outer corners of the basin sides; two of them are broken

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 6 June 2015 by J. Hannan-Briggs [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4514773] [accessed 24 November 2018]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

symbol - tree - Tree of life?

Scene Description: on one of the sides of the base

Image Source: digital image of an engraving by Robert Roberts of en engraving by F. Simpson Junior, in Simpson (1828)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: notice that the engraving in Romilly Allen (1884) has identified a [sort of] bird and a cross-in-a-wheel motif amid the foliage on the front side, whereas neither appears discernible in Simpson's engraving of the same side

Image Source: digital image of an engraving in Romilly Allen (1884)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of church exterior - southeast view

Scene Description: Source caption: "The church dates from circa 1200 onwards, and was restored in 1891."

Image Source: digital photograph taken 6 June 2015 by J. Hannan-Briggs [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4513189] [accessed 24 November 2018]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of church interior - nave - looking east

Image Source: digital photograph taken 6 June 2015 by J. Hannan-Briggs [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4513190] [accessed 24 November 2018]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of font

Image Source: digital image of an engraving by Robert Roberts of en engraving by F. Simpson Junior, in Simpson (1828)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of font and cover - southeast view

Scene Description: Source caption: "The circular font is from circa 1200, and could depict a tree of life on one side."

Image Source: digital photograph taken 6 June 2015 by J. Hannan-Briggs [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4514773] [accessed 24 November 2018]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

INFORMATION

FontID: 01577HEL

Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Andrew

Church Patron Saints: St. Andrew

Church Location: High Street, Helpringham, Sleaford NG34, UK -- Tel.: 01529 460904

Country Name: England

Location: Lincolnshire, East Midlands

Directions to Site: Located off the B1394, 8 km SE of Sleaford, 15-20 km E of Boston

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Lincoln

Historical Region: Hundred of Aswardhurn

Font Location in Church: Inside the church, in the W end of the nave, opposite the door

Date: ca. 1200?

Century and Period: 12th - 13th century, Late Norman / Early English?

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

There are five entries for Helpringham [variant spellings] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/TF1340/helpringham/] [accessed 24 November 2018], one of which reports "1 church. 0.53 church lands" in it. Simpson (1828) writes: "To what the rude sculpture on this mutilated Font alludes, we are unable to say with any degree of certainty; it may possibly relate to a part of the 80th Psalm [presumably King James' numbering, 'Qui regis Israel', though in the Vulgate it would be 'Exultate Deo']. On the other side are shallow pointed arches, in some of which runs the nail-head ornament. The whole is in a very neglected and disgraceful state, mottled with black and white paint and the inside entirely filled with plaister; the latter we have in our annexed plate removed." [NB: Simpson's addendum (ibid.) notes that "the plaster has been removed from the inside of this Font; but although not now mottled with black and white paint, it is yet painted as gay a yellow marble as the village painter could devise." Romilly Allen (1884) illustrates the sides with the foliage, birds (?) and the Agnus Dei with cross and banner and writes: "The font at Helpringham is very late Norman, and the carving is rude in the extreme. The Agnus Dei is here shown with horns, which is most unusual [...]; as bad as the execution is, the curved form shows them to be horns and not ears." Described in Sutton (1904). Bond (1908) describes it as a circular mounted bowl of the Norman period has Christ represented as the Agnus Dei. The cylindrical basin has columns on the outside at 90-degree angles, at least two of which are broken; the upper rim shows also considerable damage in Simpson's illustration of 1828. The basin is raised on a square plinth slightly wider than the basin. The state of the stone surface on the side decorated with the Agnus Dei and the possible Tree of Life is very poor and identification of the symbols and motifs therein a challenging task. Nonetheless the identification of the birds and cross-in-a-wheel in Romilly Allen [cf. supra] appears reasonable, even in the context of the worn surface of the carving today. Pevsnwer, Harris and Antram (1989) note: "Circular, with four polygonal corner shafts; c. 1200. On three sides plain blank pointed arcading, on the fourth a tree, a bird, a quadruped (Tree of Life?)." The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: TF1387640751] notes: "Parish church. c.1200, late C13, C14, C17, restored 1891. [...] Early C13 round tub font, octagonal angle shafts, blank pointed tracery to the sides with crude Agnus Dei and foliage."

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 52.952141, -0.306383

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 52° 57′ 7.71″ N, 0° 18′ 22.98″ W

UTM: 30U 680951 5870343

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, type unknown

Number of Pieces: one?

Font Shape: cylindrical (unmounted)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: round

Rim Thickness: 8 cm [calculated]

Diameter (inside rim): 65 cm*

Diameter (includes rim): 81.5 cm*

Basin Total Height: 46.25 cm*

Font Height (less Plinth): 46.25 cm*

Font Height (with Plinth): 93.75 cm*

Notes on Measurements: * Simpson (1828: 22)

LID INFORMATION

Date: unknown

Material: wood and metal,

Apparatus: no

Notes: round and flat wooden plaform with crocketed scroll ribs; appears modern

REFERENCES

Allen, J. Romilly, "Notes on Early Christian Symbolism", N.S., VI, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1884, pp. 380-464; r["References"]

Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908

Moule, Thomas, The English counties delineated; or, A topographical description of England [...], London: George Virtue, 1837 [vol. 2]

Pevsner, Nikolaus, Lincolnshire, London: Penguin, 1989

Simpson, Francis, A series of ancient baptismal fonts: chronologically arranged, drwan by F. Simpson, Jun., engraved by R. Roberts, London: Septimus Prowett, 1828

Sutton, A.F., "A Description of the Churches Visited in the Excursion from Sleaford, June 30th and July 1st, 1903", XXVII, Reports and Papers Read at the Meetings of the Architectural Societies of the Diocese of Lincoln, County of York, Archdeaconry of Northampton, County of Bedford, Diocese of Worcester, County of Leicester and Town of Sheffield, 1904, pp. 92-111; r["References"]