Freiston / Freston / Frieston / Fristune
Results: 8 records
view of font and cover - southeast side
Scene Description: Source caption: "St.James' font. Wonderful octagonal Perpendicular font with traceried panels in St.James' nave. Even more spectacular is the 15th century cantilevered cover with delicate tracery. Popular tradition asserts that it was made an apprentice and when the master saw how beautiful it was, he killed the boy in jealous rage."
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Richard Croft, 2009
Image Source: digital photograph taken 16 July 2009 by Richard Croft [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1404381] [accessed 5 December 2015]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0
design element - motifs - quatrefoil - 32
Scene Description: four deeply-carved quatrefoils per side on the octagonal basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Richard Croft, 2009
Image Source: digital photograph taken 16 July 2009 by Richard Croft [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1404385] [accessed 5 December 2015]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0
design element - architectural - arcade - blind - trefoiled arches - 32
Scene Description: four per side on the octagonal basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Richard Croft, 2009
Image Source: digital photograph taken 16 July 2009 by Richard Croft [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1404385] [accessed 5 December 2015]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0
view of church exterior in context - northwest view
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Lucas, 2011
Image Source: digital photograph taken 19 August 2011 by John Lucas [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2567411] [accessed 5 December 2015]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0
view of church interior - nave - looking east
Scene Description: with a view of the west side of the font and cover in the foreground -- Source caption: "St.James' nave. Fantastic nine-bay Norman arcades, the three west bays (nearest) are pointed gothic but late 12th century nonetheless, part of a former Priory church at Freiston"
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Richard Croft, 2009
Image Source: digital photograph taken 16 July 2009 by Richard Croft [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1403234] [accessed 5 December 2015]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0
design element - architectural - arcade - blind - trefoiled arches - 16 arches
Scene Description: two per side on the octagonal pedestal base
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Richard Croft, 2009
Image Source: digital photograph taken 16 July 2009 by Richard Croft [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1404381] [accessed 5 December 2015]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0
INFORMATION
Font ID: 04458FRE
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 15th century, Perpendicular
Cognate Fonts: [cf. FontNotes]
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. James [former Benedictine Priory Church)
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Church Patron Saint(s): St. James
Church Notes: English Heritage [Listing NGR: TF3773043773] (1967) notes: "Former Benedictine Priory, now Parish Church. Founded from Croyland in 1114, late C12, C13, C14, C15, C16, restoration in 1871 by James Fowler in Norman style"
Church Address: Church View, Freiston, Lincolnshire PE22 0LQ, UK
Site Location: Lincolnshire, East Midlands, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located 5 km E of Boston, near the coast.
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Lincoln
Historical Region: Hundred of Wolmersty
Additional Comments: "apprentice-boy" font cover / lid -- disappeared font? (the one from the 12thC priory church here, although there may have been a church in place before the foundation of the priory in 1114)
Font Notes:
Click to view
There is an entry for Freiston [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TF3743/freiston/] [accessed 5 December 2015], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Allen (1833) writes: "The font is octagonal, and has a curious and elegant covering of carved wood; it is raised three steps above the pavement. On the upper edge of the font are the remains of the fastenings by which it was formerly locked down". The cover is noted in Paley (1844) as an exquisite example of "the lofty-spire canopies". Only the cover is mentioned in Bond (1908) as one of a group of "fine examples of Gothic font covers" having for finial a statue of "the Blessed Virgin". The font-cover is noted in Howard & Crossley (1919). Described in Pevsner, Harris and Antram (1989): "Font. Perp[endicular], octagonal, with nice, very narrow, slender blank arches, four to a panel, and tiny quatrefoils over (cf. Leverton). The font base has two kneeling stones (cf. Benington). -- Font cover. A Perp[endicular] piece with Perp[endicular] windows set radially or fin-wise as buttresses and with intricate canopies (cf. Fosdyke)." Although no mention is made of the baptismal font, Jenkins (1999) writes that the furnishings of this church "include a superb Perpendicular font cover, an intricate confection of woodwork soaring upwards. Legend holds that it was carved by an apprentice. When his master saw its beauty, he flew into a jealous rage and struck the boy dead. The boy could ask for no finer monument." English Heritage [Listing NGR: TF3773043773] (1967) notes: "Fine C15 octagonal font on 3 steps with 2 kneeling stones and splayed base, blank trefoil panels to the sides and stem, with quatrefoils over. Splendid contemporary pierced and pinnacled wooden cover having radiating traceried windows, supporting central lantern over an open vault. Much crocketing."
COORDINATES
UTM: 31U 301877 5873438
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 52.97387, 0.04922
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 52° 58′ 25.93″ N, 0° 2′ 57.19″ E
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone
Font Shape: octagonal, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal
LID INFORMATION
Date: 15th century?
Material: wood, oak
Apparatus: yes; cantilivered
Notes: [cf. FontNotes]
REFERENCES
- Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.
- Allen, Thomas, The History of the County of Lincoln, from the earliest period to the present time [...], London & Lincoln: John Saunders, Junior, 1833-, vol. 1: 270
- Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 285, 289
- Jenkins, Simon, England's Thousand Best Churches, London and New York: Allen Lane, the Penguin Press, 1999 [2000 rev. printing], p. 375
- Paley, Frederick Apthorp, Illustrations of Baptismal Fonts, London, UK: John van Voorst, 1844, p. 25
- Pevsner, Nikolaus, Lincolnshire, London: Penguin, 1989, p. 287