Strelley

Noted in Hill (1906): "The font is a plain hexagonal bowl, with its two staples for securing the cover." Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) and in Guilford (1927) as a baptismal font of the Decorated period. Described in Cox (1912): "Hexagonal font Dec[orated], on two steps, upper one faced with quatrefoils." In the same entry Cox describes the font as plain. Pevsner & Williamson (1979) note: "Exceptional in shape: eight-sided, almost undecorated bowl on nine supports with ogee arches to connect them." The Broxtewe Hundred web site [http://www.broxtowehundred.co.uk/1335ed01.htm] [accessed 30 November 2007] notes: "The Font, designed by Pugin, is situated at the rear of the nave in the base of the Tower. The font has six sides sparsely decorated and stands on seven supports with continuous flowing double arches concaved above and convexed below." The entry is accompanied by a photograph of a font matching this description and located in the centre of the nave, at the west end, raised on a two-step plinth. [NB: the present font does not appear to match Cox & Harvey's dating, and there appears to be no record in the Parish to a 20th-century change in font, which begs the explanation that C&H's dating could be inaccurate, or that, perhaps, the font is a composite with fragments [the arches of the base?] from the Decorated period, the rest a reconstruction].