Nordherringen / Nord Herringen

Noted and illustrated in Nordhoff (1880), who suggests the font may have been originally from the church at Herringen, and is of a Romanesque type of font that had spread in the Lower Rhine and mid-Westphalian regions, but originally from the Bentheim and Gildehäuse, made of a reddish sandstone that abounds in the "im Münsterischen und im Emslande". Listed by Enlart (1902) as a 12th century (?) square mounted font on a five-column base. Listed in Ligtenberg (1915). Listed in Drake (2002) as a baptismal font of the "Bentheim School, Berge b. Type II", a group of fonts that includes those at Alfhausen, Badbergen, Bippen, Borken, Heek, Lathen, Nordherringen, Salzbergen, Schapen, Schepsdorf, Südkirchen, Utrecht (Katharinenkonvent), Weerselo, Wettringen and Wissel. Noted and illustrated in Herringen.de [http://web.pregocms.de/herringen/media/original/8254.jpg] [accessed 12 February 2016], which notes that at the Reformation the Protestants took ober St-Viktorkirchem while the few Catholics in the area retained the Burgkapelle der Torcksburg [Haus Norherringen] for their cult; the font stayed in the Protestant church until 1703 when all "crudera papales" were removed from Reformed churches, and this font was missing until, at the time of the building of the late-18th century chapel it was found in Lippewiesen, apparently by a bunch of drunken Catholic peasants who tripped on it on the grounds where it had been used as cattle trough; it was then moved into the new chapel dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul, where it remains. It is now provided with a copper insert and a modern lockable font cover. The font appears to be in a reasonable state of conservation, considering its exposure and rough for many years; the cylindrical basin may have lost part of the upper rim, which is now covered by the base of the cover; there is a vine on de sides, with a double rope moulding below, and a band of fan-frieze at the bottom side; the base is round to square, a roll moulding atop and four couchant-regardant lions at 90-degree angles of the broad central shaft; it is now raised on a modern square plinth and has a flat round cover, also modern