Hitchin / Hicche / Hiz / Huche / Huchine / Huthe / Hytchen / Lutchon

There are two entries for Hitchin [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TL1829/hitchin/] [accessed 5 October 2016], one of which mentions a church in it. Gough (1792) writes: "The font at Hitchin is round, adorned with figures in niches." Illustrated in Clutterbuck (1815-1827). Lewis' Dictionary of 1848 reports "a font of singular beauty" in this church. The Architectural Association Sketch Book (1881-1893, v. xi, plate 12) lists a sketch of the font at Hitchin, of 1305 date. Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a noteworthy baptismal font of the Decorated period. Bond (1908) describes and illustrates the font at Hitchin as a perfect specimen of rich design, "most original and most successful [...], where bowl and pedestal are brought into organic relation, the canopies of each niche being placed on the bowl, while the niches themselves are worked on the pedestal, which is considerably thickened to receive them" (ibid.) It is a beautifully executed font, which Bond dates to the 14th century; the upper third is wider than the rest and is indeed richly carved with foliage motif -acanthus leaves- of a Gothic order forming the pointed arches for the niches of the upper base. The middle third, which, with the lower third, constitutes the slightly narrower base of the font, is made up of 12 (?) niches, each with a standing figure in it. The lower part of the base is shaped like a round wall with 12 prominent buttresses corresponding to the angles of the niche partitions. As Bond puts it (ibid.), every niche in the font is "tenanted", each with its little saint or with a representation of some Scriptural scene. The Victoria County History (Hertford, vol. 3, 1912) notes: "The church of Hitchin is described in the Domesday Survey as the minster (monasterium) of Hitchin, and to it belonged as much as 2 hides out of the 5 hides at which Hitchin was assessed. The exact significance of the term minster is not clear, but it would perhaps seem to imply something more than an ordinary parish church, and the very large amount of glebe attached to it is suggestive of this. […] The general exterior character of the building is that of the 15th century […]The fabric, however, ranges from the 12th to the late 15th century. […] The fittings of the church include a richly carved twelve-sided font, with defaced figures of saints under elaborate ogee canopies with crockets and finials, resting on sculptured corbels. There are small pinnacled buttresses on high moulded plinths between the figures. The tall cover of 15th-century style is modern." Tompkins (1922) writes: "The font, of Ketton stone, is ancient, and formerly had statues of the twelve Apostles in niches; those, however, have been mutilated almost beyond recognition; the beautiful oak canopy is new." Noted in Long (1923) as belonging to the Decorated [or 'Second Pointed'] period. Tyrrell-Green (1928) describes the font as "duo-decagonal" and dates to the late Decorated or early Perpendicular period, the niches of the statuettes separeted by pinnacled buttresses. Noted in the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, Hertfordshire (1911): "Font: 15th-century, twelve-sided, set with richly ornamented canopies over defaced figures of saints." In Pevsner & Cherry (1977): "Font. Stone, C15, with mutilated figures under ogee canopies." The tour of this church by David Everest in [www.hertsmemories.org.uk/content/herts-history/places/churches-and-places-of-worship-2/tour-of-st-marys-church-hitchin] [accessed 5 October 2016] notes: "The font is made of “Ketton” stone, a sort of fine-grained limestone from Caen in Normandy, and has been here since at least 1470. There used to be a third step beneath the font but it was removed in Victorian times, no doubt to make it more convenient for baptisms. The font was constructed to be the length of the average newborn, as the infant used to be wholly immersed. In the 1640’s, the Puritans did a lot of damage, defacing the apostles on the font." [NB: the RCHM (1911) reports also the remains of a holy-water stoup in a pointed recess of the north porch -- no separate entry in this Index]