Saxmundham / Samundeham / Saxmondeham

Image copyright © Janice Tostevin, 2011
Standing permission
Results: 26 records
B01: angel - demi-figure - holding shield - emblem - the instruments of the Passion
B02: animal - mammal - lion - sejant-gardant
B03: angel - demi-figure - holding shield - emblem - See of Ely or East Anglia (three crowns)
B04: animal - mammal - lion - sejant-gardant
B05: angel - demi-figure - holding shield - emblem - Trinity
B06: animal - mammal - lion - sejant-gardant
B07: angel - demi-figure - holding shield - emblem - England
B08: animal - mammal - lion - sejant-gardant
B09: design element - motifs - floral - square flower
BU01: angel - cherub
BU02: angel - cherub
BU03: angel - cherub
BU04: angel - cherub
BU05: angel - cherub
BU06: angel - cherub
BU07: angel - cherub
BU08: angel - cherub
BU09: design element - motifs - floral - square flower - 8
LB01: animal - mammal - lion - sejant - 2
LB02: design element - architectural - buttress - 4
LBF01: human figure - male - grotesque or fantastic - Green Man or woodwoose - with club
LBF01: human figure - male - grotesque or fantastic - Green Man or woodwoose - with club
LID01: human figure - standing - Christ?
view of church exterior - northeast view
view of font - east side
INFORMATION
FontID: 04033SAX
Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. John the Baptist
Church Patron Saints: St. John the Baptist
Church Location: 35 Church Hill, Saxmundham IP17 1ES, UK -- Tel.: +44 1728 452423
Country Name: England
Location: Suffolk, East Anglia
Directions to Site: Located just E of the A12, 30 km NE of Ipswich
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich
Historical Region: Hundred of Pomesglate
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Century and Period: 15th century? [re-cut], Perpendicular [altered?]
Workshop/Group/Artisan: heraldic font
Cognate Fonts: Similar, though not identical, to the font at Oulton
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Janice Tostevin, and to Simon Knott of Suffolk Churches, for their photographs of this church and font
Font Notes: Click to view font notes
There are three entries for Saxmundham [variant spellings] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/TM3862/saxmundham/] [accessed 14 December 2020]; of the three one entry reports "1 church. 0.12 church lands" in it; another entry reports "2 churches. 0.2 church lands" in it, while the third does not include either church or church lands in it. Parker (1855) notes a basin with "the evangelistic emblems" mounted on a modern pedestal base. Described and illustrated in Bond (1908). Described and illustrated in Knott (2006): "the font, one of the best Suffolk examples of the 15th century East Anglian style, is thoroughly recut. There are aggressive little wild men around the base, and one of the shields features the instruments of the passion." Octagonal mounted font of the 15th century in the Perpendicular style; the octagonal basin has four angel demi-figures holding charged shields on four sides of the basin (emblems of the Instruments of the Passion, the Trinity, England and Diocese of Ely); the other four sides have seated lions in a gardant pose inside frames decorated with little rosettes; the corners of the underbowl chamfer have cherubs, their wings covering the space in between; the square pedestal base has sedente lions at every-other side alternating with standing "woodwooses" or wild men wielding clubs. The font does look too sharp for its age, but it is not clear whether parts of it are replacements or, as Knott suggests, thorough re-cuts. The lid is octagonal and low-domed with a haloed [cruciferous nimbus] figure finial [Christ?].
COORDINATES
Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal:
1.4956,
1.4956
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS:
52° 12′ 46.4″ N,
1° 29′ 44″ E
UTM: 31U 396633 5786030
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material:
stone, unknown
Font Shape: octagonal (mounted)
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal
LID INFORMATION
Apparatus: no
Notes: Bond (1908) describes the cover as one of a "common late type".
REFERENCES
Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908
Knott, Simon, The Suffolk Churches Site, Simon Knott, 1999-. [standing permission to reproduce images received from Simon [February 2005]. Accessed: 2009-10-27 00:00:00. URL: www.suffolkchurches.co.uk.
Parker, John Henry, The Ecclesiastical and architectural topography of England [...] Suffolk, 1855