Newcastle upon Tyne No. 1

The Mirror of Literature, Amusement and Instruction (no. 969, vol. xxxiv, 21 September 1839: 297) notes that the Church of St. Nicholas was "originally built in 1091, was burnt down in 1216, and the present structure rebuilt in 1359", and mentions the font as one of the "many vestiges of its former antiquity". Listed in Bond (1908) as an early-16th century font cover, without mention of the font itself. The font is mentioned in Cox (1907) as being in the Perpendicular style. Font cover noted in Long (1923). Both the font and its cover are illustrated in Pevsner (1957) and in Randall (1980). Pevsner (ibid.) dates the cover ca. 1500, with considerable repairs carried out in he 17th century. The font is octagonal and mounted, with a rounded underbowl; the sides of the basin are ornamented with shields charged with emblems; the pedestal of the base is octagonal and the lower base, splaying out widely, is also octagonal. Randall (ibid.) identifies the material of the font as Frosterley marble and dates the font to the 15th century, the cover to ca. 1500. Six of the eight shields on the sides of the font are identified as variations of the arms of the Rhodes family [source: the web site www.timarchive.freeuk.com/html/cathedral.htm]; this same source informs that "the ornate cover [...] was hidden by Cuthbert Maxwell, a local mason, from the marauding Scots after the Battle oif Newburn in 1640. At that time it was 60 years old." The font cover is illustrated in Howard & Crossley (1919)