Halam

Described in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Norman period. Described in Cox (1912): "Circular font on 5 plain shafts; late Norm[an] or Trans[itional]; cover good Jacobean or late Elizabethan." Photographed in situ in 1923(?) by Alfred John Loughton. Listed in Guilford (1927) as a late Norman font with a Jacobean font cover. The British Listed Buildings database [www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-242144-church-of-st-michael-the-archangel-and-a] [accessed 7 March 2012] reports: "Circular ashlar font supported on 4 colonnettes, the bowl decorated with diaper around the top." The font consists of a cylindrical basin with a decorative band of patterned decoration just below the upper rim; small chamfer at the bottom of the basin; on five shafts, the central one broader than the outer, all plain; the round lower base is also plain except for a small chamfer around the top. On a circular plinth with a kneeling stone. The whole font exterior has been drastically re-tooled and/or re-carved, and the whole base could be a replacement. The wooden cover is of the common design that has four scroll ribs around a central turned pivot, on a round and flat platform base; round finial; its date as suggested above.