East Meon No. 2 / East Menes / Estmeane / Estmene / Estmeone / Estmune / Estmunes / Mene / Meonis / Moene / Wesberie

Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Results: 3 records
view of church exterior - south view
view of font
INFORMATION
FontID: 02083MEO
Church/Chapel: Parish Church of All Saints [orig. from St Nicholas' at Westbury?]
Church Patron Saints: All Saints
Church Location: Church Street, Eastmeon, Hampshire GU32 1NJ
Country Name: England
Location: Hampshire, South East
Directions to Site: Westbury is located off (E) the A32, just ESE of West Meon, about 30-35 km N of Portsmouth
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Portsmouth
Historical Region: Westbury was located in the Hundred of Meonstoke [in Domesday]
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, in the S aisle , S crossing
Century and Period: 12th century, Late Norman
Cognate Fonts: Same base as found on Ilam font (Staff., England)
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Colin Smith for his photograph of this font
Church Notes: Church under patronage of Bishop of Winchester, Henry de Blois, 1129-1171.
Font Notes: Click to view font notes
There is one entry for this Westbury [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/] [accessed 2 October 2016], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. The Hampshire Antiquary and Naturalist, vol. 1 (1891): 80ff, reprints an article originally from The Hampshire Independent (31 May 1890) which includes an account of a visit of The Hampshire Field Club to a East Meon and several other churches in its neighbourhood, one of which is thus described: "In Westbury Park are the ruined walls of ancient chapel, to which the party was next conducted by Mr. Lewis. This consists now of the four ivy-clad walls, with of the early Decorated age. Inside [...] an old round stone font". The Victoria County History (Hampshire, vol. 3, 1908) includes Westbury in its entry for East Meon: "The Chapel of St. Nicholas, Westbury, was annexed to the parish church of East Meon. In an account of the parish written in 1703 there is the following description of the chapel:— 'There is also another chapel at Westbury, but there is no service in it'. [...] The chapel [...] preserves nothing of its ancient contents except a plain circular font at the west end, and near it part of a coffin slab". On-site notes: a second baptismal font that pales in comparison to the main Tournai font, is located also in East Meon's church now [July 1998]; it consists of a totally plain tub-shaped basin and a round-to-square base; the basin well has a central drain with no lining. The font was found in the ruins of the nearby Chapel of St. Nicholas at Westbury earlier this century. The wooden cover was originally made by the local wheelwright, by (for?) the Aburrow family.
COORDINATES
Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal:
50.9946,
-1.03228
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS:
50° 59′ 40.56″ N,
1° 1′ 56.21″ W
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material:
stone, type unknown
Font Shape: tub-shaped (mounted)
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round
Rim Thickness: 9-11 cm
Diameter (inside rim): 61-62 cm
Diameter (includes rim): 82-83 cm
Basin Depth: 28 cm
Basin Total Height: 46 cm
Height of Base: 45 cm
Font Height (less Plinth): 91 cm
Square Base Dimensions: 72 x 72 cm
Notes on Measurements: BSI on-site
LID INFORMATION
Date: modern?
Material:
wood,
Apparatus: no
Notes: [cf. Font notes]
REFERENCES
Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. Accessed: 2011-08-10 00:00:00. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.