Wadenhoe / Waddenhoo / Wadenho / Wadenhowe

Described in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Early English period. Described and illustrated in the Victoria County History (Northampton, vol. 3, 1930): "The tower is all that is left of a late 12th century church (c. 1195–1200), the chancel and nave of which were rebuilt some time in the next century. [...] The beautiful 13th century font consists of a circular bowl moulded round the lower edge and ornamented at the top with lunettes of foliage, below each joint of which are rosettes, dogtooth and masks in relief set vertically on the face of the cylinder. The font has been reset on an octagonal stone step." [NB: the VCH entry gives the dedication of the church as St. Giles']. In Pevsner & Cherry (1973) with 13th-century date. Described and illustrated in the CRSBI (2008): "the font, certainly 13thc. Since it is carved with dogtooth and floral motifs [...] The sparse disposition of motifs on the bowl and their depth of relief indicate a prodigious volume in wasted stone." The font consists of a cylindrical basin decorated with a set of round arch heads around the upper side, vegetal tendrils under each arch [at least one badly damaged]; instead of supports, under each arch-end are two motifs, up-and-down: pairs of dog-tooth and rosettes; the exception has a human head at the top with a dog-tooth below; around the lower basin side, two parellel mouldings; the base is made up of four (?) polygonal shafts decorated with mouldings [at least one is a replacement; perhaps all four, but of different periods]. [NB: there may have been an Anglo-Saxon church here originally but we have no information of a fant in it]