Irchester / Archester / Erchester / Erncestre / Hirecestre / Ircestre / Irencestre / Iringchester / Yranceaster / Yrencestre

Paley (1844) shows an octagonal basin mounted on a central base and four corner shafts, on a plinth, all octagonal. Each side of the basin has a trefoil arch; the ones visible in Paley's illustration have (L->R): 1)a human face, 2)a human figure facing left with a tiny quadruped (pig?, dog?) behind it, and 3) foliage; of the ones not visible in the illustration, Paley writes that "three have the trefoil arch alone, a fourth has some rude flowers, and the fifth the head of an animal." Parker (1849) writes: "The font, a curious, though certainly not beautiful specimen of Ealy English, will be found described and engraved in Van Voorst's series" [NB: reference to Paley (1844)]. Described by Cox (1907) as one of the country's best instances of 13th-century fonts. Described in the Victoria County History (Northampton, vol. 4, 1937): "The 12thcentury church was rebuilt and the chancel lengthened in the course of the 13th century [...] It was extensively restored in 1889 [...] The 13th-century font has a roughly-carved octagonal bowl on four detached octagonal shafts […] The carving on six of the sides is within trefoiled arches.", with reference to the entry in Paley. Mee (1945) identifies the quadruped as a pig. Pevsner & Cherry (1973) describe the ornamentation as "barbaric demi-figures, faces, and stiff leaf", and date the font to the 13th century.