Hart No. 2 / Hert

Noted in Hutchinson (1823): "The font is much sculptured, bearing the emblematical figures of the evangelists, with the figures of Peter and Paul in relief." Described and illustrated in Mackenzie (1834), who comments of the deplorable state of the font: "From the dampness which prevails in the church, this venerable specimen of antiquity may be literally said to have arrived at a 'green old age'". Described in Murray (1873): "The font is octagonal, and is carved with statues of saints and the Evangelists, and other symbols." Described in Cox & Harvey ( 1907) as a "very fine 15th century octagonal font adorned with the sculptured figures of the Evangelists and other figures". The Victoria County History (Durham, vol. 3, 1928) reports two fonts in this church; of this one, it notes: " The other is a very beautiful example of 15th-century work, and consists of an octagonal bowl 2 ft. 6 in. in diameter standing on a shaft and pedestal of the same form, all elaborately carved. The carving on the eight sides of the bowl is as follows: east side, two figures, one holding a book in his right hand and a club in his left, and the other a book and three loaves or stones (? SS. Philip and James); south, two figures, one, much mutilated, holding a staff (?) in his right hand and a book in his left, and the other a book in the right hand and in the left a boat (?); west, the Resurrection, with the emblems of the Passion on either side; north, two figures, one with a spear and a book, and the other a book and a saw (? SS. Simon and Jude). The other sides bear the emblems of the four Evangelists. The carvings on the shaft are: east, a crowned queen holding a book and palm branch in her hands, and through the breast, from right to left, a sword (? St. Euphemia); south-east, a pope with the triple crown and double patriarchal cross in his left hand (St. Gregory the Great); south, a crowned queen holding a book and a pair of pincers (St. Lucy); south-west, an abbot with pastoral staff and book, and over his arm a maniple; west, an abbess in coif and wimple, holding crozier and book standing upon a dragon (St. Elizabeth); north-west, a bishop in pontificals with crozier and chain and fetter-lock (St. Leonard); north, a crowned queen, sitting, with a book in her left hand and the model of a church in her right (St. Barbara); and, north-east, an abbess, holding book and key (St. Petronilla). Round the bottom of the bowl are eight demi-angels holding shields, and round the base of the shaft, at the angles, four tonsured and four untonsured heads, between which are four-leaved flowers of various patterns." In Pevsner (1983) as a second font in this church: "the other ornate C15, octagonal, with eight male heads, four tonsured, carved at the foot, standing figures under ogee arches on the stem, angels on the underside of the bowl, and more figures on the bowl (including a Resurrection scene flanked by Passion symbols on the W side), all richly but badly carved, the figures with broad mannered coiffures, still in C14 tradition." An unknown / untitled source of the Durham County Council records it as: "late 15th-century [...], decorated with eight carved male heads on the foot, whilst the bowl has a resurrection scene on it, with angels on the underside." [source: www.durham.gov.uk/durhamcc/usp.nsf/lookup/[...]]. The SINE project at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne [http://sine.ncl.ac.uk] posts an illustration of this font cpationed: "Curious antique font in Hart Church. Page 454, Vol. 1", and describes it as a "Portrait engraving of the font in Hart Church (Image from 1 January 1815 - 31 December 1825)".