Whitwick / Whitwich

Gough (1792) quotes a description of the heraldic ornamentation on this font given in Burton (1622) [single quotations indicate Burton's original text]: "On 'the font stone' at Whitwich, Burton mentions these three escutcheons: '1.three garbs; 2.three chevrons; 3.semé de cross croslets, three fleurs de lis.'" Noted and illustrated in Upcott (1818). Paley (1844) writes: "Rudely executed specimen of late Decorated work [...] of poor design and not decided in character". The basin and the base are octagonal, raised on a rectangular plinth. Three sides of the basin are ornamented with shields bearing coats of arms; another side has a large rose motif; another has a blind arcade with zig-zag motif on top; another has three paddle-like motifs; one is blank and the eighth side has an unspecified low-relief motif [a/p Paley's notes and illustration (ibid.)]. The underbowl is chamfered. The upper half of the base has vertical sides which fan out on the lower half to meet the plinth which is rectangular with a raised priest's stone. There appears to be some damage around the upper rim of the basin. [NB: the 19th-century font at Tunworth is said to have been designed based on this font (Henry Woodyer, 2002: 52n)]. Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a noteworthy baptismal font of the Decorated period. In Pevsner (1984): "Font. Octagonal, with square panels with shields and also little blank traceried windows."