Pitsford / Pidesford / Pisford / Pisseford / Pitesford
Image copyright © [in the public domain]
PD
Results: 4 records
B01: design element - architectural - arcade - blind - trefoiled arches
Scene Description: Except on one side where the protrusion is, which is ornamented with a 4-petal flower, two Ogee windows and two quatrefoils
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Bond (1908)
Copyright Instructions: PD
LB01: design element - architectural - arcade - blind - 8 arches - trefoiled arches
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: engraving in Paley (1844: unpaged)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: engraving in Paley (1844: unpaged)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Bond (1908)
Copyright Instructions: PD
INFORMATION
Font ID: 01735PIT
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 14th century, Decorated
Workshop/Group/Artisan: font with appendage
Cognate Fonts: More English fonts with appendages at Alvington (Gloucs), Castle Combe Wilts), Feniton (Devon), Iron Acton (Gloucs), Odiham (Hants), Pitsford (Nhants), Sutton Bonnington (Notts), Youlgreave (Derbys), etc. [There are many fonts in France that have larger projections or are actually double-fonts]
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Mary
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, in the N side, in a chantry chapel
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Mary the Virgin
Church Address: Church Lane, Pitsford, Pitsford, Northamptonshire, NN6 9AJ
Site Location: Northamptonshire, East Midlands, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located 8 km N of Northampton
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Peterborough
Historical Region: Hundred of Spelhoe
Additional Comments: disappeared font? (the one from the 12thC church here?)
Font Notes:
Click to view
Noted in Paley (1844) as a baptismal font with " a very remarkable appendage". Lewis' Dictionary of 1848 reports: "the font is very curious and ancient". Whellan (1849) reports: "The font, which is curious, has been removed to the chapel". Described and illustrated in Bond (1908). Octagonal mounted font of the 14th century in the Decorated style. The sides of the basin have trefoil or cinquefoil arches but one of them has a projection from the rim forming a ledge, in which there are four small holes. Both Paley and Bond argue that these holes are not from the cover hinges, since the actual staple remains, and is not opposite this protrusion. Perhaps, suggests Paley (ibid.), it was meant to hold a desk for a book, a crucifix or a figure, but he also points out the presence of such protrusions in fonts in Brittany and Normandy. Bond (ibid.) adscribes to the desk theory as well, although, in the next paragraph he introduces the Youlgreave font and the chrismatories, projections not meant as desks. The stem of the base is octagonal and has a deep-relief blind arcade of trefoil arches. The Victoria County History (Northampton, vol. 4, 1937) notes: "The south doorway is of 12th-century date, and some fragments of the same period are built into the tower arch and the east end of the north aisle. [...]
The font is of 14th-century date and consists of an octagonal bowl, with canopied niches, on a panelled and buttressed stem. On the west side of the bowl is a projection from the rim forming a ledge, in which are four small holes, probably intended for the fixing of a desk." The VCH (ibid.) further notes: " That the holes were not intended for the hinge of the font-cover is proved by the staple not being opposite the projecting ledge […] The present cover is modern."
The font is of 14th-century date and consists of an octagonal bowl, with canopied niches, on a panelled and buttressed stem. On the west side of the bowl is a projection from the rim forming a ledge, in which are four small holes, probably intended for the fixing of a desk." The VCH (ibid.) further notes: " That the holes were not intended for the hinge of the font-cover is proved by the staple not being opposite the projecting ledge […] The present cover is modern."
COORDINATES
UTM: 30U 643669 5797209
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, type unknown
Font Shape: octagonal, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal
Diameter (includes rim): 51.5 cm
Basin Depth: 22.5 cm
Font Height (less Plinth): 75 cm
Notes on Measurements: Paley (1844)
LID INFORMATION
Date: modern
Material: wood
Notes: [cf. FontNotes]
REFERENCES
- Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.
- Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 69 and ill. on p. 68
- Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 172, 211
- Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England, Comprising the Several Counties, Cities, Boroughs, Corporate and Market Towns, Parishes, Chapelries, and Townships, and the Islands of Guernsy, Jersey, and Man, with Historical and Statistical Descriptions [...], London: S. Lewis, 1831, p. 573-576 / [www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=51215] [accessed 22 February 2007]
- Paley, Frederick Apthorp, Illustrations of Baptismal Fonts, London, UK: John van Voorst, 1844, p. 29
- Pevsner, Nikolaus, Northamptonshire, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1973, p. 374
- Whellan, William, History, gazetteer, and directory of Northamptonshire, comprising a general survey of the county, and a history of the Diocese of Peterborough: with separate [...], London: Whittaker & Co., Ave Maria Lane, 1849, p. 216