Stoke-sub-Hamdon / East Stoke / Stoca / Stoche / Stoke-under-Ham

Image copyright © John Harding, 2004

Image and permission received (email of 23 December 2004)

Results: 11 records

design element - motifs - braid

Scene Description: where damaged it resembles a band of diamond motif

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Harding, 2004

Image Source: John Harding [www.sheelanagig.org]

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (email of 23 December 2004)

design element - motifs - moulding

Scene Description: a "pudding moulding"

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Harding, 2004

Image Source: John Harding [www.sheelanagig.org]

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (email of 23 December 2004)

design element - motifs - rope moulding

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Harding, 2004

Image Source: John Harding [www.sheelanagig.org]

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (email of 23 December 2004)

view of church exterior - north portal - tympanum

Scene Description: Source caption: "Stoke sub Hamdon, St. Mary's Church: North porch tympanum. Sagittarius shooting an arrow at Leo across a Tree of Life filled with doves. A Lamb of God completes the picture."

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Michael Garlick, 2016

Image Source: digital photograph taken 5 June 2016 by Michael Garlick [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1564044] [accessed 12 February 2018]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of church exterior - north view - corbel

Scene Description: Source caption: "A sheela-na-gig - St Mary's Stoke Sub Hamdon. Two chancel corbels with carved figures - the one on the right is a sheela-na-gig which is a female figure although in shadow is showing off her genitalia."

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Sarah Smith, 2009

Image Source: digital photograph taken 31 October 2009 by Sarah Smith [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1565086] [accessed 12 February 2018]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of church exterior - northeast end

Scene Description: Source caption: "Stoke sub Hamdon, St. Mary's Church: Norman corbel table, north chancel wall".

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Michael Garlick, 2016

Image Source: digital photograph taken 5 June 2016 by Michael Garlick [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5001386] [accessed 12 February 2018]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of church exterior - northeast view

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Mike Searle, 2008

Image Source: digital photograph taken 24 July 2008 by Mike Searle [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/897678] [accessed 12 February 2018]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of church interior - chancel arch - detail

Scene Description: Source caption: "Stoke sub Hamdon, St. Mary's Church: Norman chancel arch capitals".

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Michael Garlick, 2016

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 5 June 2016 by Michael Garlick [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5001391] [accessed 12 February 2018]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of church interior - nave - looking east

Scene Description: Source caption: "Stoke sub Hamdon, St. Mary's Church: The Norman Chancel Arch. Three orders; nailhead, zigzag and billet mouldings."

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Michael Garlick, 2016

Image Source: digital photograph taken 5 June 2016 by Michael Garlick [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/5001387] [accessed 12 February 2018]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of font - detail

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Harding, 2004

Image Source: John Harding [www.sheelanagig.org] [detail December 2004]

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (email of 23 December 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 23 December 2004)

INFORMATION

FontID: 04777STO
Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin
Church Patron Saints: St. Mary the Virgin
Church Location: Church Ln, Stoke-sub-Hamdon TA14 6UF, UK -- Tel.: +44 1935 826471
Country Name: England
Location: Somerset, South West
Directions to Site: Located off (SW) the A303-A3088 crossroads, about 8 km W of Yeovil
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Bath & Wells
Historical Region: Hundred of Tintinhull
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, W end, S side
Century and Period: 12th - 13th century, Late Norman / Transitional?
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to John Harding, of www.sheelanagig.org, for the photograph of this font.
Church Notes: Bond (1908) mentions "a centaur with bow and arrow is shooting a man at short range", a scene representing Saggitarius shooting Leo, on the tympanum, inside the porch
There are four entries for Stoke [-sub-Hamdon] [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/ST4717/stoke-sub-hamdon/] [accessed 12 February 2017], none of which mentions cleric or church in it. The Handbook for travellers… (1869) reports: "The font is Norman, with the chain and lozenge moulding." Listed in Bond (1908) as a baptismal font of the Norman period. Wade & Wade (1929) report a "font with cable and lozenge mouldings" in this church [NB: the 'lozenge' is actually the result of half of the braid moulding being broken off]. Listed in Hutton (1957) simply as a baptismal font of the Transitional period. Described in Pevsner (1958). The entry for this parish in the Victoria County History (Somerset, vol. 3, 1974) notes: "Architectural evidence places the foundation of the church in Norman times or earlier. (fn. 299) The first known rector was recorded in 1174 × 1180 [...] [Church] said in 1840 and 1859 to be dedicated to St. Denys. [...] In 1861 the dedication was said to be unknown. [...] From at least 1866 until about 1891 the dedication was to St. Andrew and thereafter to the Virgin [...] The first addition to the Norman church was the base of the north tower which forms a stone-vaulted north transept, now used as the chapel of St. Denys. It was built c. 1200 [...] The large circular font is Norman and has a moulded base and two boldly projecting bands of cable ornament, one combined with lozenges." The font is practically cylindrical, with three markedly protruding horizontal mouldings that divide the font into three equal parts; the upper moulding, corresponding roughly to the bottom of the basin, is a braid that, in places where it is damaged, resembles a band of diamond motif; the next moulding is a rope or cable, correspoding roughly to the top of the lower base; the bottom moulding is a round moulding of the type known as "pudding moulding" and marks the very bottom of the font. There are signs of bot damage and repair to the sides of the font, with some replacement stone obvious at the upper rim where the staples of the old cover might have been removed. The plain wooden cover on the font now [2004] appears modern.

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 50.951944, -2.735278
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 50° 57′ 7″ N, 2° 44′ 7″ W
UTM: 30U 518595 5644514

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone
Font Shape: tub-shaped (round)
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round

LID INFORMATION

Date: modern
Material: wood,
Apparatus: no

REFERENCES

Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. Accessed: 2018-02-12 00:00:00. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.
Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908
Hutton, Graham, English Parish Churches, London: Thames & Hudson, 1976
Murray, John, A handbook for travellers in Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, and Somersetshire, London: John Murray, 1869
Pevsner, Nikolaus, South and West Somerset, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1958
Wade, G.H., Somerset, London: Methurn & Co., 1929