London No. 2

Results: 2 records

INFORMATION

Font ID: 02582LON
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 15th - 16th century, Tudor
Church / Chapel Name: St. Peter ad Vincula
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Peter
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)
Church Address: 35 Tower Hill, London EC3N 4DR, United Kingdom
Site Location: Greater London, South East, England, United Kingdom
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
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

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

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, p. 414, 415
  • Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, 135