Butterwick nr. Langtoft / Butruic

Glynne's visit of 19 November 1863 (in Butler, 2007) reports: "The font has a circular bowl, on square stem." Cox & Harvey (1907) described the font at Butterwick as being a very large example of a baptismal font from the Norman period, ornamented with an arcade; farther on, however, Cox & Harvey (ibid.) write that a plain circular baptismal font of the Norman period existed in Barton-le-Street, "of good proportions and in excellent condition"; this font, however, "was flung aside, in 1871, when Barton-le-Street church was rebuilt. Dr. Cox found it sunk in a field in Slingsby parish as a cattle trough, and restored it to its proper use, in 1890, in Butterwick chapel. [cf. Index entry for Butterwick]. The GENUKI web site refers that "the rector has this year (1889) recovered the old Norman font formerly in the parish church, but for some time degraded into a cattle trough at Slingsby, and has restored it to its original purpose in this chapel" [i.e., in the chapel-of-ease at Butterwick]. An article by Wally Simpkin in the Driffield Post-Driffield Times [http://www.driffieldtoday.co.uk/wally-simpkins-look-at-east-riding-history/Ancient-fonts.2085398.jp] [accessed 1 July 2008] notes: "The font is ornamented with fourteen semi-circular arches, resting on double shafts, surmounted by a simple square upper course of the pillar. The angle around the top has a roll moulding, ornamented with the cable pattern, which appears in so many other fonts in the district." Noted and illustrated in the CRSBI (2018): "A fine cylindrical font on a concave stem and circular base, it is opposite the S doorway and close to the N wall. The drum of the font has a plain arcade of 14 bays; the columns are pairs of flat straps, the arches single flat straps, bases and capitals are flat blocks. There is a rounded cable pattern on the angle. A plain flat band is inside the cable on the horizontal rim, and then a rebate for the lead. [...] Morris (1919), says ‘very large and remarkably fine old Norm. font, with arcade of a common type.’ The concave stem is probably not 12thc., but added later when the bowl was found too low for current baptismal practice, perhaps in the 13thc. The cylinder itself is worn at the bottom, suggesting it was not always at this height and might have been moved about on the floor. The pieced circular base might be original, similar ones have been seen at Wharram Percy and Yapham, for example. The pattern elements (arcade and cable) are seen similarly made on the font at Sherburn (East Yorkshire), which has ten bays, with tree motifs in nine of them. The cable moulding is rounded, well-made and worked on the rim as well as the side; it is a little better made than the cable at Sherburn, and slopes the other way, perhaps that made it easier to cut."