Pickering No. 1

Noted in Glynne's 1842 visit to this church (in Butler, 2007): "The font is circular, with moulding around the base, and set on a cylinder of equal diameter." Home (1915) writes: "The font, which has been thought by some to be of Saxon origin, seems to be formed from part of the inverted base of a pillar, and though composed of old material, probably dates in its present form of a font from as recent a period as the restoration of Charles II [i.e., 1660+], the original font having been destroyed in Puritan times." Later in the same source Home (ibid.) notes that "the [parish] registers record the breaking up of the font", an entry which Holme quotes verbatim: "Baptisterii Pickerensis Demolitio, Septemb. 25, 1644". Described in Hutton (1957) as a baptismal font, "possibly Saxon, and was deliberately defaced (and so recorded in the registers) in 1644". Betjeman (1958) notes the 20th-century font cover by George G. Pace. [cf. Index entry for Pickering No. 2 for an old holy-water stoup in this church]