Newport nr. Bristol No. 1
Image copyright © John Harding, 2004
Image and permission received (email of 9 November 2004)
Results: 11 records
B01: human figure - grotesque or fantastic - head - vegetation stemming from the mouth - 4
Scene Description: only one of them, the one shown in this image is original; the other three are a Victorian reconstruction
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Harding, 2004
Image Source: John Harding [www.sheelanagig.org] [detail]
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (email of 9 November 2004)
B02: symbol - cross - Greek
Scene Description: one of the motifs on the sides
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Harding, 2004
Image Source: John Harding [www.sheelanagig.org] [detail]
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (email of 9 November 2004)
B03: design element - motifs - scroll - beaded-tape
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Harding, 2004
Image Source: John Harding [www.sheelanagig.org] [detail]
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (email of 9 November 2004)
B04: design element - motifs - foliage
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Harding, 2004
Image Source: John Harding [www.sheelanagig.org] [detail]
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (email of 9 November 2004)
view of font and cover
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Harding, 2004
Image Source: John Harding [www.sheelanagig.org]
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (email of 9 November 2004)
view of font cover
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Harding, 2004
Image Source: John Harding [www.sheelanagig.org] [detail]
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (email of 9 November 2004)
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Lord, 2003
Image Source: Lord, in Diwylliant... (1998-2003, vol. 3: fig. 83)
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE
view of church interior - detail
Scene Description: greyscale version of a colour photograph: "south capital from the north of the west doorway to the nave"
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Thurlby, 2006
Image Source: greyscale version of a colour photograph in Thurlby (2006)
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE
view of church interior - detail
Scene Description: colour photograph: "south capital from the north of the west doorway to the nave"
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Thurlby, 2006
Image Source: colour photograph in Thurlby (2006)
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE
view of basin - west side - detail
Scene Description: showing the original carving
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Thurlby, 2006
Image Source: detail of a B&W photograph in Thurlby (2006)
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE
view of basin - west side
Scene Description: showing the original carving in the context of the reconstruction
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Thurlby, 2006
Image Source: B&W photograph in Thurlby (2006)
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE
INFORMATION
Font ID: 04356NEW
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Date: ca. 1120-1130? / ca. 1180?
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th century [fragment only - otherwise 19th century] [composite font], Medieval [composite]
Workshop/Group/Artisan: Herefordshire school?
Cognate Fonts: Thurlby [cf. FontNotes below] suggests Gt. Kimble and the Aylesbury group of fonts for the decoration
Church / Chapel Name: St. Woolos' Cathedral / Eglwys Gaderiol Casnewydd/Cadeirlan Casnewydd
Font Location in Church: Inside the cathedral, in the narthex, St. Mary's chapel
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Woolos [aka Gwynllyw, Woollos]
Church Address: 105 Stow Hill, Newport NP20 4ED, United Kingdom -- Tel.: +44 1633 267464
Site Location: Newport, Wales, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Newport is located about 32 km NW of Bristol; St. Woolos is located on Stow Hill at the confluence with Clifton Pl.
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Monmouth
Historical Region: formerly Gwent / Monmouthshire
Additional Comments: recycled font / restored font : reconstructed from a small fragment in the 19th century (1854?)
Font Notes:
Click to view
Tyrrell-Green (1928): "An elaborately sculptured Norman font-bowl with ornament in high relief and of Classical character occurs at St. Woolos, Newport (Mon.)". The Phaidon guide to GB & Ireland (1985) lists an interesting font at the cathedral of St. Woolos. Described in Newman (2000) as "a fine carved fragment, with Herefordshire school carving, [...] incorporated into the C19 font." Peter Lord, in Diwylliant... describes and illustrates the font (1998-2003), which he dates to ca. 1120-1130; the font, of which "only one 90 degree segment of the original carving survives", has a a square-shaped basin with deeply carved sides and a rounded underbowl; the carvings include a human head at each corner, to the sides of which extend scrolls of beaded-tape, leaves, crosses, etc. Described and ilustrated in Thurlby (2006) who notes the 1854 restoration that completed the fragment "on the basis of the medieval work and repeated the motifs exactly", and states that the suggested association of this font with the Herefordshire School (Newman (2000: 20) "is an erroneous suggestion". Thrulby (ibid.) further notes: "The fleshy quality of the foliage suggests a date late in the twelfth century and in terms of font decoration is analogous to the Aylesbury group not least Gret Kimble (Bucks.)", upon which association Thurlby suggests a date ca. 1180 for this font. The present [19th century -- 1854?] base consists of a plain cylindrical stem, a large roll moulding with large 3-leaf motifs at the angles, all raised on a square volume and a square plinth. Wooden font cover, probably of the same period as the restoration of the font. [We are grateful to John Harding, of www.sheelanagig.org, for his photograph of this font]
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to John Harding, of www.sheelanagig.org, for his photograph of this font]
COORDINATES
UTM: -2.99858
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 51.583, -2.99858
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 51° 34′ 58.8″ N, 2° 59′ 54.89″ W
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone
Number of Pieces: fragment
Font Shape: square, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: square
Basin Exterior Shape: square
LID INFORMATION
Date: 19th century?
Material: wood
Apparatus: yes [counterweight?]
Notes: the flat square lid can be raised via a chain hooked to the finial
REFERENCES
- The Visual Culture of Wales = Diwylliant gweledol Cymru, Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1998-2003, vol. 3: p. 67-69, 72 fn48 and fig. 83
- Mehling, Franz N., Great Britain and Ireland: a Phaidon Cultural Guide, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1985, p. 474
- Newman, John, Gwent/Monmouthshire, London: Penguin Books; University of Wales Press, 2000, p. 20, 427
- Thurlby, Malcolm, Romanesque architecture and sculpture in Wales, Little Logaston, Woonton, Almeley, Herts.: Logaston Press, 2006, p. 163-164 and fig. 222
- Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928, p. 54-55