St. John Lee nr. Hexham No. 1

INFORMATION

Font ID: 03912JOH
Object Type: Other
Object Details: altar, Roman
Font Century and Period/Style: 3th - 5th century, Roman [altered]
Cognate Fonts: Chollerton and Haydon Bridge, very near by, also in Northumberland, have converted Roman altars as well
Church / Chapel Name: Church of St. John of Beverley
Font Location in Church: Inside the church?
Church Patron Saint(s): St. John of Beverley [no dedication in Crowford's]
Site Location: Northumberland, North East, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located near Hexham, just S of Hadrian's Wall
Additional Comments: recycled font / altar font: former Roman altar (a/p Bond, Cox)
Font Notes:
Cox & Harvey (1907) mention an object is believed to be a hollowed out Roman altar for use as font. Bond (1908) mentions three examples of "Roman altars [...] converted into fonts": this one, the font at Haydon Bridge and another one at Chollerton, all in the same area of Northumberland [Chollerton is north of Hadrian's Wall; the other two are south of it]. Listed in Stocker (1997: 25) as one of a group of "Roman altars incorporated into fonts". [NB: the font at Hexham is said to be also a Roman stone converted into a baptismal font -- listed under Hexham in this Index]

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, unknown
Font Shape: square, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: square

REFERENCES

  • Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 99
  • Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 167, 212
  • Stocker, D.A., "Fons et origo: The Symbolic Death and Resurrection of English Font Stones", I (1997b), Church Archaeology, 1997, pp. 17-25; p. 25