Thornbury / Thornebyry / Turneberie [Domesday]

Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2015

Image and permission received (e-mail of 12 May 2015)

Results: 11 records

B01: design element - motifs - foliage

Scene Description: on the east side of the basin; seen here on the left side of the image

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2015

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 30 March 2015 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 12 May 2015)

B02: symbol - cross - treflée or fleuronnée

Scene Description: on the north side of the basin; seen here on the right side of the image

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2015

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 30 March 2015 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 12 May 2015)

B03: design element - motifs - foliage - interlace

Scene Description: on the west side of the basin; seen here on the left side of the image

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2015

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 30 March 2015 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 12 May 2015)

B04: symbol - cross - Greek

Scene Description: on the south side of the basin; seen here on the right side of the image

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2015

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 30 March 2015 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 12 May 2015)

design element - motifs - leaf - 4

Scene Description: one at each angle of the lower base

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2015

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 30 March 2015 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 12 May 2015)

design element - motifs - roll moulding

Scene Description: all around the base of the central shaft

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2015

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 30 March 2015 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 12 May 2015)

design element - motifs - scallop - 12

Scene Description: three large scallops on each side of the basin

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2015

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph taken 30 March 2015 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 12 May 2015)

view of church exterior - south view

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2015

Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 March 2015 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 12 May 2015)

view of church interior - nave - looking east

Scene Description: with the old font in the foreground

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2015

Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 March 2015 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 12 May 2015)

view of font and cover - northeast view

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2015

Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 March 2015 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 12 May 2015)

view of font and cover - southwest side

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2015

Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 March 2015 by Colin Smith

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 12 May 2015)

INFORMATION

FontID: 03428THO
Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Mary
Church Patron Saints: St. Mary the Virgin
Church Location: Park Road, Thornbury, South Gloucestershire BS35 1HG
Country Name: England
Location: Gloucestershire, South West
Directions to Site: Located on the B4061, 20 km N of Bristol
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Gloucester
Historical Region: Hundred of Langley [in Domesday]
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, in the W end of the nave
Century and Period: 12th - 13th century [re-tooled in the 13th?], Medieval [composite]
Cognate Fonts: other English fonts with square-shaped inner basin wells at Bristol St. Philip's and Westerleigh [cf. FontNotes]. Also, a 19th-century font at Dilton Marsh, Wiltshire, based in this design
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Colin Smith for his photographs of this church and font
There is an entry for this Thornbury [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/ST6390/thornbury/] [accessed 16 May 2015], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. [Illustration believed to be from Lysons' Magna Britannia, ca. 1806? -- to be confirmed]. Paley (1844) notes that the shape of this font is quite similar to the one at Bristol St. Philip's, except that the latter is almost plain, whereas this one has motifs on the basin sides [only two are shown or mentioned in Paley: a circular foliage on one side and a cross on the other]. Otherwise the basin is shaped like a scalloped capital and the upper base is cylindrical and plain; the lower base is square and has a leaf motif at the four corners, much like some of the single-support Tournai fonts. The plinth is also square and devoid of ornamentation. Paley (ibid.) describes this font as "a most interesting specimen of transition from the Norman to the Early English style". Bloxam (1859) writes: "The sides of the square Norman font […] have been subsequently decorated with Early English foliage and sculpture." A 21 July 1860 visit of the Gloucestershire Archaeological Institute, reported in The Gentleman's Magazine (issue of July-Dec, 1860), describes the font as "a good specimen of Early English work". Described in Cox & Harvey (1907) as "an interesting specimen of the beginning of the Early English style". Noted in Tyrrell-Green (1928) in 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). Buck (1951) mentions a 19th-century font at Dilton Marsh, Wiltshire, based on this font's design. Noted in Verey & Brooks (1999-2002). "Font. Transitional. Square bowl scalloped onto a massive clawed pedestal."

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 51.612138, -2.528517
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 51° 36′ 43.7″ N, 2° 31′ 42.66″ W
UTM: 30U 532646 5718006

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone
Font Shape: square (mounted)
Basin Interior Shape: square
Basin Exterior Shape: square
Basin Depth: 22.5 cm*
Font Height (less Plinth): 85 cm*
Trapezoidal Basin: 70 x 70 cm*
Notes on Measurements: * Paley (1844, unpaged)

LID INFORMATION

Date: modern
Material: wood, oak?
Apparatus: no
Notes: plain and square; appears 19thC

REFERENCES

Bloxam, Matthew Holbeche, The Principles of Gothic ecclesiastical architecture, with an explanation of technical terms […], London: W. Kent, 1859
Buck, A.G. Randle, "Some Wiltshire fonts. Part III", LIV, CXCV (December 1951), The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine, 1951, pp. 192-209; r["References"]
Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907
Paley, Frederick Apthorp, Illustrations of Baptismal Fonts, London, UK: John van Voorst, 1844
Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928
Verey, David, Gloucestershire, London: Penguin Books, 1999-2002