Newcastle upon Tyne No. 1

Standing permission

Results: 11 records

Click to view images

B01: symbol - shield - coat of arms - Rhodes family

Scene Description: on the west side of the basin; it includes the arms of Robert Rhodes (as well as those of his wife's family?)

Image Source: digital photograph taken 8 March 2010 by Janice Tostevin for BSI

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

B02: symbol - shield - coat of arms - Robert Rhodes - 3

Scene Description: on the east side and the two adjacent sides, left and right [cf. Font notes]

Image Source: digital photograph taken 8 March 2010 by Janice Tostevin for BSI

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

B03: symbol - shield - coat of arms - unidentified

Scene Description: on the south side of the basin: believed to be the arms of Robert Rhodes' wife's family

Image Source: digital photograph taken 8 March 2010 by Janice Tostevin for BSI

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

LID01: New Testament - Virgin Mary - coronation in heaven

Scene Description: the wooden boss inside the font cover

Image Source: colour illustration from the Cathedral Guide [scanned & sent by Janice Tostevin]

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of font - west side

Image Source: digital photograph taken 8 March 2010 by Janice Tostevin for BSI

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of basin - upper view

Scene Description: notice the holes drilled in the upper surface

Image Source: digital photograph taken 8 March 2010 by Janice Tostevin for BSI

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font and cover

Scene Description: at the west end of the nave, looking east

Image Source: digital photograph taken 8 March 2010 by Janice Tostevin for BSI

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font and cover

Scene Description: at the west end of the nave

Image Source: photograph 2001 by Tim Pickford-Jones [www.timmonet.co.uk]

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 19 July 2004)

view of font cover - pulley and counterweight - detail

Image Source: digital photograph taken 8 March 2010 by Janice Tostevin for BSI

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font cover - detail

Image Source: digital photograph taken 8 March 2010 by Janice Tostevin for BSI

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font cover

Image Source: detail of a photograph 2001 by Tim Pickford-Jones [www.timmonet.co.uk]

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 19 July 2004)

INFORMATION

Font ID: 01785NEW

Object Type: Baptismal Font1

Font Century and Period/Style: 15th century (early), Perpendicular

Workshop/Group/Artisan: heraldic font

Cognate Fonts: other such fonts at St. John's and All Saints' [now at Kirkharle], both in Newcastle as well

Church / Chapel Name: Cathedral [formerly Parish Church] Church of St. Nicholas

Font Location in Church: Inside the church, by the chancel (?) arch

Church Patron Saint(s): St. Nicholas of Myra

Church Notes: the parish church of St. Nicholas was made cathedral in 1882

Church Address: St. Nicholas Sq, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 1PF, UK

Site Location: Tyne and Wear, North East, England, United Kingdom

Directions to Site: The church is located off (W) the A167 [aka High St], just N of the river

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Newcastle

Historical Region: formerly Northumberland

Font Notes: Click to view

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)

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Tim Pickford-Jones, of www.timmonet.co.uk, and to Janice Tostevin, for their photographs of this font

COORDINATES

UTM: 30U 588908 6092336

Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 54.97, -1.611111

Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 54° 58′ 12″ N, 1° 36′ 40″ W

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, marble (Frosterley)

Number of Pieces: three?

Font Shape: octagonal, mounted

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal

LID INFORMATION

Date: 16th century (early) / ca. 1500? / or 1580?

Material: wood, oak?

Apparatus: yes / counterweight

Notes: [cf. FontNotes]

REFERENCES

Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 289
Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 212
Howard, F.E., English Church Woodwork: a Study in Craftmanship during the Mediaeval period A.D. 1250-1550, London: B.T. Batsford, 1919, ill. on p. 334, 337
Long, E.T., "Dorset church fonts", 44, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, 1923, pp. 62-76; p. 65
Pevsner, Nikolaus, Northumberland, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1957, p. 226 and ill. on p. 30b
Randall, Gerald, Church Furnishing & Decoration in England and Wales, London: B.T. Batsford Ltd., 1980, ill. 38