Battle
Image copyright © Arthur Mee, 1937
PD
Results: 7 records
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Arthur Mee, 1937
Image Source: Paul Zwierzanski [www.yeoldesussexpages.co.uk] and www.crsbi.ac.uk/ed/wa/stco/i7651.htm
Copyright Instructions: PD
design element - architectural - arcade - blind - round arches - 28
Scene Description: Seven arches on each basin side
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Arthur Mee, 1937
Image Source: Paul Zwierzanski [www.yeoldesussexpages.co.uk] and www.crsbi.ac.uk/ed/wa/stco/i7651.htm
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of context - abbey exterior
Scene Description: in 2006
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: digital photograph taken 10 May 2006 by Dickpenn
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © greentool, 2010
Image Source: digital photograph taken 9 October 2010 by greentool [www.flickr.com/photos/greentool2002/5082206340/] [accessed 24 December 2010]
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE
view of font - southeast side
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © The British Academy & Kathryn A Morrison, 2008
Image Source: digital image of a B&W photograph taken 4 August 1990, in the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland (2008) [http://www.crsbi.ac.uk/search/county/site/ed-sx-battl.html] [accessed 20 February 2010]
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE
view of font - northeast view
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © The British Academy & Kathryn A Morrison, 2008
Image Source: digital image of a B&W photograph taken 4 August 1990, in the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland (2008) [http://www.crsbi.ac.uk/search/county/site/ed-sx-battl.html] [accessed 20 February 2010]
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE
view of church interior - nave - looking east
Scene Description: the edge of the font and the plinth steps are visible on the right-hand edge of the image
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Battle St Mary's Parish Church, 2011
Image Source: digital photograph in www.stmarysbattle.com/USERIMAGES/img_0154(1).jpg [accessed 24 December 2011]
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE
INFORMATION
Font ID: 02713BAT
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Date: ca. 1190?
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th - 13th century, Medieval
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, at the W end of the nave, S side
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Mary the Virgin
Church Address: Upper Lake, Battle, East Sussex [SatNav code: TN33 0AN]
Site Location: East Sussex, South East, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located at the junction of the A271-2100, 11-12 km NW of Hastings
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Chichester
Historical Region: Hundred of Hailesaltede [in Domesday
Font Notes:
Click to view
Battle is mentioned in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ7415/battle/] [accessed 11 February 2023] without an individual entry. Noted in Kelly's Directory of 1867: "The church of St. Mary was founded by Ralph, who was Abbot of Battle from 1107 to 1124 [...] the font is a good specimen of the Norman style, and has every appearance of being as old as the foundation". Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Norman period. Described and illustrated in Bond (1908) as a Purbeck marble baptismal font of Romanesque design and dated to the 13th century; the tabular-shaped basin is square and has a blind arcade of round arches all around; the base consists of a broad central column and 4 slenedr corner colonnettes, all plain; the lower base is, like that of the Tournai fonts, and its has a square plinth as part of the font, as well as a three-step plinth on which the font stands. In Harrison (1920) as late-Norman. Reported in Dru Drury (1949) as a font made of Purbeck marble. Described in Whiteman (1998): "The square, arcaded font is Norman". Catalogued and illustrated in the CRSBI (2008): "At the W end of the nave, S side, is a square, Sussex marble font with slightly tapering sides and a circular basin. The surface is worn and the lower SE angle broken. The sides are carved with shallow, round-headed arcading, comprising seven arches on E and W and six on N and S. The arches have continuous chamfers. On the base of the bowl are mouldings for four angle shafts and a fat central shaft, but the present columns and bases are modern." Described and illustrated in the Parish website [http://www.battle-and-bexhill-deanery.co.uk/Battle%20Tour.htm] [accessed 20 February 2010]: "The Font is early twelfth century. A frieze of Norman arches, much worn, may still just be discerned round the square cut marble slab. The carved and gilded cover to the Font is medieval." [NB: there may have been a medieval font in the abbey church at Battle Abbey]. Noted in Leach (1975) as a font made of Purbeck marble, "the subsidiary shafts and the base are modern" [source given: Dr. G. Dru Drury].
COORDINATES
UTM: 31U 322880 5643953
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, limestone ([Purbeck marble]
Font Shape: square, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: square
Diameter (inside rim): 63 cm*
Basin Total Height: 24 cm*
Trapezoidal Basin: 82 x 83 cm*
Notes on Measurements: * [CRSBI (2008)]
REFERENCES
- Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, 206, 211, 225 and ill. on p. 208
- Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland. URL: http://www.crsbi.ac.uk.
- Dru Drury, G., "The use of Purbeck in mediaeval times", 70, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1949, pp. 74-98; p. 77
- Drummond-Roberts, Maud F., Some Sussex fonts, photographed and described, Brighton: Southern Publishing Co., 1935, p. 9
- Harrison, Frederick, Notes on Sussex churches, Hove: Combridges, 1920, p. 59
- Kelly, Kelly's Post Office Directory of Essex, Herts, Middlesex, Kent, Surrey and Sussex, London: Kelly's Directories Ltd., 1867, [transcribed in http://homepages.gold.ac.uk/genuki/SSX/Battle/ [accessed 20 February 2010]]
- Leach, Rosemary, A Investigation into the use of Purbeck Marble in Medieval England, Hartlepool: E.W. Harrisons & Sons, 1975, p. 69
- Mee, Arthur, The King's England, Sussex, 1937, p. 16
- Walker, A.K., An introduction to the study of English fonts, with details of those in Sussex, 1908, p. 72-73
- Whiteman, Ken, Ancient Churches of Suffolk, Seaford, East Sussex: S.B. Publications, 1998