Wordwell
Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
Results: 3 records
LBH01: human figure - male - head
Scene Description: Four very crude human heads, one on each of the columns
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: BSI - Photographed 24 July 1998
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: BSI - Photographed 24 July 1998
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Baptisteria Sacra Index, 2023
Image Source: BSI - Photographed 24 July 1998
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0
INFORMATION
Font ID: 02499WOR
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Date Visited: 2000-07-27
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th - 13th century, Norman
Church / Chapel Name: All Saints' parish church
Font Location in Church: West end, centre of the nave, in front of one of the Norman altar alcoves
Church Patron Saint(s): All Saints
Church Notes: The church has wonderful bench-end carvings and a very old and schematic tympanum now built into the inside north wall of the nave.
Church Address: 1 Church Cottages, Wordwell, Bury Saint Edmunds IP28 6UN, United Kingdom
Site Location: Suffolk, East Anglia, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Wordwell All Saints' can be found on the B1106 Bury St Edmunds to Brandon road, just north of Culford Park. Church is locked; key at nearby farmhouse. (S. Knott's WEB site, Wordwell)
Font Notes:
Click to view
Probably one of the ugliest baptismal fonts in Suffolk. The cylindrical Norman (?) basin is totally plain, although Bond has a confusing entry regarding the presence of a "Tree of Spiritual Life and Knowledge" of Eastern inspiration on this font (Bond, 1908: 181). Our on-site visit (July 2000) and Knott's illustration of the font turn it out totally plain except for a very crude man's head/face carved on each of the two-part (the lower appear to have been added much later) outer shafts which make up the 5-support base (Knott's WEB site, Wordwell p.4). [NB: could it have been re-cut since Bond time?]
COORDINATES
UTM: 31U 341900 5798719
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 52.316, 0.6805
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 52° 18′ 57.6″ N, 0° 40′ 49.8″ E
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, type unknown
Font Shape: round, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round
Drainage System: centre hole in basin
Drainage Notes: the inside of the well has been plastered
Rim Thickness: 9 cm
Diameter (inside rim): 70 cm
Diameter (includes rim): 87-90 cm
Basin Depth: 32 cm (may have an inch of plaster added over it)
Height of Basin Side: 38 cm
Basin Total Height: 38 cm
Height of Base: 66 cm*
Font Height (less Plinth): 104 cm
Notes on Measurements: *NB: the height of the original blocks of the base (upper) is 26-27 cm. The rest appears to be a later addition.
REFERENCES
- Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 181
- Knott, Simon, The Suffolk Churches Site, Simon Knott, 1999-. [standing permission to reproduce images received from Simon [February 2005]. URL: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk.