Tramecourt / Tramcour / Tramcourt / Trancourt

The baptismal font in this 16th-century church is mentioned in a letter from M. Terminck to M. de Caumont simply as "fonts en grès" (Bulletin Monumental, 2e serie, t. 2, vol. 12, 1846. p. 432). Noted also in Lasteyrie de Saillant's Bibliographie générale des travaux historiques et archéologiques [...] (Paris: Imp. Nationale, 1893), t. 2: 476, entry 34050 under "L'abbé Robitaille's Excursion archéologique dans l'arrondissement de Saint-Pol, [s.d.] p. 345, with date in the 12th century. In Enlart (1902) as a late (?) font mounted on a 5-support base. Listed and illustrated in Palissy [ref.: PM62001596]: {fonts baptismaux [...] A quatre colonnettes. Décorée de griffons sculptés [...] 12e siècle." The font consists of a square basin decorated with pairs of fabulous animals (griffons? and dragons?) on the two visible sides; the other two sides are aginst a corner and their decoration not visible; rounded underbowl with foliated capitals at the four corners; broad central shaft and four angle colonnettes; lower base has mouldings forming the bases of the five columns; tall plinth, square and plain, that may be modern. The present font cover is square, flat and plain; modern, but the damage to the upper sides of the basin is indicative of there having been metal staples there, from an old font cover, that split and damaged the stone. [NB: if Viton de Saint Allais's claim [cf. ChurchNotes] that the church was founded in 1297 were correct, where did this font originate? Is the dating wrong?]