Bristol No. 1

The font at St. Philip's has a plain basin shaped like a scalloped capital, mounted on a broad cylindrical base adorned with a single torus. The lower base or plinth is square. Paley reported it painted (1844) but the paint had been scraped off by Bond's time (1908). Paley (1844) offers it as a "good model for imitation when a Norman Font is required at a moderate cost, as the form is good and the work easily executed". Both Paley (ibid.) and Bond (1908) report a Jacobean font cover and Bond's illustration shows a square box-frame latticed with four window arches on each side, one of each is hinged to open and allow access to the font's well. It has a typical Jacobean top of eight "S" vertical motifs, and a tall cup and (?) finial. Paley (ibid.) describes the lid simply as "a cumbrous cover". The Handbook for travellers… (1869) states: "The font is plain Norm[an], lined with lead." Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a noteworthy baptismal font of the Norman period. Noted in Tyrrell-Green (1928) on a list of mostly Welsh fonts consisting of a square basin decorated with scallop motif (includes one from Bristol St Philip's and another from Thornbury, Gloucs., both bordering with Wales). Described in Pevsner (1958) as Norman, but re-tooled. Noted in Foyle (2004): "Much-restored Norman font, square with scalloped underside. Oak font cover, 1636 (the later inscription plate is inaccurate): a box-like cage of open arches, then eight big S-scrolls carrying a finial."