Axbridge
Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2024
Image and permission received (e-mail of 2 March 2025)
Results: 14 records
view of font and cover
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2024
Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 July 2024 by Colin Smith
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 2 March 2025)
view of font and cover - southwest side
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Timothy Marlow, 2014
Image Source: photograph taken 25 May 1982 by Tim Marlow
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (letter of 26 October 2013)
view of font and cover
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2011
Image Source: digital photograph taken October 2011 by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 13 October 2011]
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: engraving in Paley (1844: unpaged]
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of basin - detail
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2024
Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 July 2024 by Colin Smith
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 2 March 2025)
angel - demi-figure - holding shield - showing wings - 8
Scene Description: some of the shields may have had emblems or coats of arms, but they appear to be blank now
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Timothy Marlow, 2014
Image Source: photograph taken 25 May 1982 by Tim Marlow
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (letter of 26 October 2013)
view of basin - interior
Scene Description: notice the re-tooling and the modern lining
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2011
Image Source: digital photograph taken October 2011 by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 13 October 2011]
design element - motifs - quatrefoil - in a circle - in a square - 16
Scene Description: Two on each side of the octagonal basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2011
Image Source: digital photograph taken October 2011 by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 13 October 2011]
view of church exterior in context
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2024
Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 July 2024 by Colin Smith
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 2 March 2025)
view of church exterior
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2011
Image Source: digital photograph taken October 2011 by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 13 October 2011]
view of church interior - looking east
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2024
Image Source: digital photograph taken 13 July 2024 by Colin Smith
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 2 March 2025)
view of font and cover in context
Scene Description: at the west end of the nave
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2011
Image Source: digital photograph taken October 2011 by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 13 October 2011]
design element - architectural - window or niche - 8
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2011
Image Source: digital photograph taken October 2011 by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 13 October 2011]
design element - motifs - moulding
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2011
Image Source: digital photograph taken October 2011 by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 13 October 2011]
INFORMATION
Font ID: 03472AXB
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 15th century (early?), Perpendicular
Workshop/Group/Artisan: heraldic font
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. John the Baptist
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, at the W end of the nave
Church Patron Saint(s): St. John the Baptist
Church Notes: church of ca. 1400; re-built 1888
Church Address: Back Lane, Axbridge, Somerset BS26 2AR, United Kingdom
Site Location: Somerset, South West, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located just NW of Cheddar, 30-35 km SW of Bristol
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Bath & Wells
Historical Region: Hundred of Winterstoke
Font Notes:
Click to view
No entry for Axbridge found in the Domesday survey. A font here is described in Rutter (1829): "The font is ancient and curious, but much disfigured by whitewash and colouring; it well deserves to be carefully restored to its original appearance." Described and illustrated in Paley (1844): "Though wanting in the usual elegance of fifteenth century work, this Font is very characteristic of that period." Described in Cox & Harvey (1907) as "a handsome example" of 15th-century baptismal fonts. In Pevsner (1958): "Perp[endicular], octagonal, the underside a close rank of busts of angels; two small quatrefoils on each panel above." Octagonal mounted font; the sides proper of the basin are very short and ornamented with pairs of quatrefoil-in-a-circle-in-a-square motifs on each side; the underbowl is therefore very tall with eight large angels showing their wings and holding shields in front of them; the upper rim and surface around the inner well has been re-tooled and the lining of the well is modern; the eight sides of the stem of the base have a trefoil niche or window on each, the columns of the arches "resting on large splayed bases" (ibid.); the plinth is modern, polygonal, with kneeling stone, but in Paley's engraving it is small, plain and square. The pale-oak cover is crown-shaped and picks up the quatrefoil motifs of the basin sides; modern.
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Colin Hinson, of www.yorkshireCDbooks.com, to Colin Smith and to Tim Marlow, for their photographs of this church and font
COORDINATES
UTM: 30U 512789 5681835
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 51.2877, -2.8166
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 51° 17′ 15.72″ N, 2° 48′ 59.76″ W
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone
Font Shape: octagonal, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal
Drainage System: centre hole in basin
Drainage Notes: lead-lined
Diameter (includes rim): 75 cm
Basin Depth: 30 cm*
Font Height (less Plinth): 107.5 cm
Notes on Measurements: *[uncertain: depth of bowl or height of same]. Paley (1844: unpaged)
LID INFORMATION
Date: modern
Material: wood, oak
Apparatus: no
Notes: [cf. FontNotes]
REFERENCES
- Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 216, 217
- Paley, Frederick Apthorp, Illustrations of Baptismal Fonts, London, UK: John van Voorst, 1844, p. 14 et al
- Pevsner, Nikolaus, North Somerset and Bristol, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1958, p. 81
- Rutter, John, Delineations of the North Western Division of the County of Somerset, and of its [...], Shaftesbury; London: Published by the Author; Longman, Rees & Co. [...], 1829, p. 179