Bridlington No. 1 / Bretlinton / Burlington / Byrdlington

There are three entries for Bridlington [variant spelling] in the Domesday [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TA1767/bridlington/] [accessed 27 July 2014]; the entry in the lordship and cjief tenancy of King Wiliam in 1086 shows a church in it. A font here is noted in Glynne's 12 August 1827 (?) visit: "The font stands at the west end of the church elevated on steps; it is circular and of black marble." Described in Prickett (1831): "The font is quite plain, and raised on two steps; it is of marble, common in Derbyshire, which is full of petrifactions; and I should be inclined to think, not the original one." Moule (1837) writes: "The font is a fine specimen of the turbinated madreporite, upwards of three feet in diameter but; its external beauty is concealed by a coating of yellow paint." Described in Betjeman (1958): "Fine Frosterley marble font." The entry for the Austin canons priory here in the Victoria County History (York, vol. 3, 1974) notes: "The great Augustinian priory of Bridlington was founded by Walter de Gant in the reign of Henry I. [r. 1100-1135] [...] The last prior, William Wood, took part in the Pilgrimage of Grace, was attainted of high treason on 17 January 1537, [...] and with the Abbots of Fountains and Jervaulx, the exAbbot of Rievaulx and the ex-Prior of Guisborough, was put to death, the property of the house being then treated as forfeited to the Crown." The baptismal font has a round hemispheric basin, plain except for a thin scotia under the upper rim and a thin moulding at the joint of the underbowl with the stem, and is made of dark speckled Frosterly marble; the base is cylindrical and also plain except for two thin torus, one at top, the other at botom; the lower base is round, like a plain column base, and the plinth is square, of the same marble and size as the lower base. According to J.W. Lamb, canon and prebendary of York and author of the church guide, the octagonal wider second plinth is made of "Hopton Wood stone". He also indicates that the font "suffered much at the hands of restorers during the 19th century" and that the original "canopy fastenings had been removed", the ancient canopy itself "was, no doubt, destroyed at the Dissolution". He gives the date of the new canopy as 1955.