London No. 2

Results: 2 records

B01: New Testament - public life of Christ - baptism of Christ

B02: design element - motifs - floral - Tudor rose

INFORMATION

FontID: 02582LON
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Church/Chapel: St. Peter ad Vincula
Church Patron Saints: St. Peter
Church Location: 35 Tower Hill, London EC3N 4DR, United Kingdom
Country Name: England
Location: Greater London, South East
Directions to Site: Located in the NW corner of the Inner Ward of the Tower Hamlets, just off Whitechapel Rd and Wapping High Street, on the north bank of the Thames
Century and Period: 15th - 16th century, Tudor
Church Notes: The church of St. Peter ad Vincula was built on the remains of earlier temples (the first demolished in 1286 by Edward I, who built another on the site in 1287; the latter was damaged by fire in 1512 and rebuilt in 1513 in Henry VIII's time). The mutilated (quartered, eviscerated, etc.) corpses of the persons executed on the scaffold at the Green "were thrown hugger-mugger into the ground below the nave", usually minus the head which, boiled in tar, would adorn the spike of the pikes on the Tower (two of Henry VIII's wives and Lady Jane Grey lied there). With the 1876 restoration the bodies were given a decent burial under the chancel floor. Sir Thomas Moore and John Fischer are buried there as well (source: Blatch, 1995, p. 414)
Font Notes:
According to Blatch (1995, p. 415), the Tudor font "was broken into four pieces during the Commonwealth period and secreted by the chaplain in the Cholmondeley tomb." Cromwellian soldiery caught and executed the chaplain, and the font was only discovered during the 1876 restoration, at which time it was repaired and installed in its place in the church where it is used for baptisms to this day (Jan. 2000). The font has an octagonal basin decorated with scenes and Tudor motifs on alternate sides. On the facing one, a scene of the Baptism of Christ; on the next side to the right, a Tudor rose. The base consists of a broad central column and eight more slender nonstructional ones at the angles. The plinth is octagonal as well. (physical description of the font based on a brief scene in the TV program "Royal secrets")

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 51.508611, -0.076944
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 51° 30′ 31″ N, 0° 4′ 37″ W
UTM: 30U 702839 5710438

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, type unknown
Font Shape: octagonal (mounted)
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal

REFERENCES

Blatch, Mervyn, Guide to London's churches (2. ed.), London: Constable, 1995
Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908