Ratby / Rotebie
Image copyright © [in the public domain]
PD
Results: 5 records
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: digital image of an engraving in Paley (1844: unpaged)
Copyright Instructions: PD
design element - motifs - floral - rosette - 4 petals
Scene Description: All around, right under the upper rim
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: digital image of an engraving in Paley (1844: unpaged)
Copyright Instructions: PD
design element - architectural - arcade - blind - 4 arches - trefoiled arches
Scene Description: One arch on each of the basin sides created by the dividing pinnacles
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: digital image of an engraving in Paley (1844: unpaged)
Copyright Instructions: PD
design element - architectural - pinnacle
Scene Description: Four pinnacles which divide the basin side into four parts
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: digital image of an engraving in Paley (1844: unpaged)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of church exterior - southwest view
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Gammock, 2009
Image Source: digital photograph taken 22 August 2009 by Gammock [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ratby_Church.jpg] [accessed 27 July 2019]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-4.0
INFORMATION
Font ID: 03452RAT
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 14th century (mid?), Decorated
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Philip and St. James
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, in the W end, S aisle [cf. ChurchNotes]
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Philip & St. James
Church Notes: The Bradgate Team Ministry site [www.bradgate.leicester.anglican.org] [accessed 4 December 2006] notified that the church needed to be closed in 2000 due to the discovery of dry rot in the tower. The Parish was at the time collecting funds for "eradicating the dry rot and restoring the church's ancient font". The Ratby Church was re-opened on 3 November 2002, after a restoration that included "the 15th century Grey family font".
Church Address: Church Ln, Ratby, Leicester LE6 0JF, UK -- Tel.: +44 16 2396520 / +44 16 2393768
Site Location: Leicestershire, East Midlands, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located about 5 km W of Leicester, just off (W) the M1
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Leicester
Historical Region: Hundred of Guthlaxton
Additional Comments: altered font (part of the base is modern replacement [cf. FontNotes])
Font Notes:
Click to view
There is an entry for Ratby [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SK5105/ratby/] [accessed 27 July 2019]; it mentions a priest but not a church in it, though there must have been one there. A font at Ratby is noted and illustrated in Upcott (1818). Paley (1844) describes it as "a very singular font" and thinks its execution "coarse and rude". It has an octagonal shape at the upper rim, a shape created by the pinnacles which divide the basin sides into four and the finials of the basin arcade which add the other four angles to the upper rim of the basin, while the actual shape of the basin under all that ornamentation is actually hemispheric. The base is made up of a central octagonal pillar and four irregular corner shafts, all raised on an octagonal plinth. There is a 1890 pencil drawing by W.H. Cowlishaw in the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level E, Victoria & Albert [ref.: D.453-1908] that includes the font here. Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a noteworthy baptismal font of the Decorated period. Listed in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as a baptismal font of the Decorated period ornamented with an overhanging arcade of foliage arches. Noted in Pevsner (1984): "Font. Probably mid-C14. Circular, with four big nodding crocketed ogee arches rising up the bowl." The Bradgate Team Ministry site [www.bradgate.leicester.anglican.org] [accessed 4 December 2006] informs: The font originally stood in Groby Old Hall, family home of the Greys. One of Sir Edward Grey's sons was baptised in it in 1440. There was no church in Groby at the time, and Sir Edward did not care to bring his son to Ratby Church because the road was 'so foul'. The font was later moved to Ratby." The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SK5131105963] notes: "Parish Church. C13, C14, C15, restoration of 1881 [...] C14 octagonal font with crocketed nodding ogee panels to the sides, pinnacles and octagonal shafted base now with replaced supports."
COORDINATES
UTM: 30U 618861 5834675
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 52.649, -1.24301
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 52° 38′ 56.4″ N, 1° 14′ 34.84″ W
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, unknown
Font Shape: octagonal, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal
Drainage System: centre hole in basin
Drainage Notes: lead lining
Rim Thickness: 10 cm
Diameter (inside rim): 60 cm
Diameter (includes rim): 80 cm
Basin Depth: 40 cm
Font Height (less Plinth): 105 cm
Notes on Measurements: Paley (1844: unpaged)
LID INFORMATION
Date: modern
Material: wood
Notes: Paley (1844: unpaged) reports a plain flat cover ca. 1844
REFERENCES
- Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 57
- Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 206
- Paley, Frederick Apthorp, Illustrations of Baptismal Fonts, London, UK: John van Voorst, 1844, [unpaged]
- Pevsner, Nikolaus, Leicestershire and Rutland, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1984, p. 358
- Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928, p. 28, 92
- Upcott, William, A bibliographical account of the principal works relating to English topography, London: Printed by Richard and Arthur Taylor, 1818, [vol. IV, part II, p. 536 and pl. cxli