Hadleigh nr. Ipswich

Reported in Lewis' Dictionary of 1848: "the font is of great antiquity". Parker (1855) notes: "The font is very fine D[ecorated], with rich tracery on the bowl, and a panelled pedestal; it is very much disfigured by paint, and by an inscription round the bowl." Described and illustrated in Bond (1908): octagonal mounted font of the late 14th or early 15th century; the octagonal basin is of the type more commonly found among the Seven-sacrament type, but this one has a blind arcade of cusped arches, two to a side; there is a crenelated edge at the bottom of the sides; the chamfer of the underbowl has cherubs at the angles and Tudor roses and other motifs between them; the octagonal stem of the base has anotrher blind arcade of similarly decorated arches, one to the side; there are rosette motifs on the octagonal lower base. Bond (ibid.) lists this font as part of a group bearing the palindrome inscription "ΝΙΨΟΝ ΑΝΟΜΗΜΑ ΜΗ ΜΟΝΑΝ ΟΨΙΝ", "Cleanse your sin, not your face only" [NB: not known where in the font this inscription appears]. This font is mentioned in Long (1923) as belonging to the Decorated [or 'Second Pointed'] period.