Thaxted No. 1 / Thaxtead
Image copyright © John Whitworth, 2008
Standing permission
Results: 9 records
view of font cover
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Whitworth, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph taken by John Whitworth [www.essexchurches.info]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of font and cover
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © H.M.S.O., 1923
Image Source: B&W photograph in the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (Essex, 1916-1923)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of church exterior - southeast view
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Whitworth, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph taken by John Whitworth [www.essexchurches.info]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of church exterior - northeast view
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © H.M.S.O., 1923
Image Source: B&W photograph in the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (Essex, 1916-1923)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of church interior - south aisle - looking west
Scene Description: the font cover at the back
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Whitworth, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph taken by John Whitworth [www.essexchurches.info]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of font and cover in context
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © H.M.S.O., 1923
Image Source: B&W photograph in the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (Essex, 1916-1923)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of church interior - plan
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © H.M.S.O., 1923
Image Source: B&W photograph in the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (Essex, 1916-1923)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of font cover
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Bond (1908)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of font cover
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/everyman_history/chapt15.htm, 2006
Image Source: digital image in http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/everyman_history/chapt15.htm
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE
INFORMATION
Font ID: 04785THA
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 15th century (late?), Perpendicular
Cognate Fonts: Littlebury (for the cover only)
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. John the Baptist
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Church Wikidata: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaxted_Parish_Church
Church Patron Saint(s): St. John the Baptist, St. Mary & St. Lawrence
Church Address: Watling Street, Thaxted, Dunmow CM6 2PE , United Kingdom
Site Location: Essex, East, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located about 8 km ESE down the B184 of Saffron Walden; 32 km WNW of Chelmsford
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Chelmsford
Additional Comments: e-mail sent to churchwarden requesting further info - may 4, 2001 //mt [never replied]
Font Notes:
Click to view
Noted in Paley (1844) as one of two examples [the other being Littlebury, in the same county] of specimens in which "the entire font is encased in wood, to which the cover is made to fit." Sperling (1860) identifies "three very elaborate font covers casing the whole font, and terminating in crocketed canopies, remain at Thaxtead [sic], Littlebury, and Takeley: at the latter place it has been coverted into a surplice box." Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a noteworthy baptismal font of the Perpendicular period. The font cover is noted with an illustration in the Royal Commission of Historical Monuments (Essex, 1916-1923): "Case: octagonal, of oak, in two stages with buttressed angles and panelled sides with traceried heads and carved spandrels, line of quatrefoil panels at base and moulded upper rail. Cover: spireform, supported internally on two carved brackets, one partly restored, lower stage with traceried arches and embattled cresting, pierced and crocketed buttresses at angles, upper stage with septfoiled arches and finished with a finial in the middle and side pinnacles, late 15th-century, restored, font entirely hidden by case." Hutton (1957) mentions "a rare P[erpendicular] 15C font/case and doors." Bond (1908) describes this type of cover as 'Floor Buffet' which "rests on the floor not on the rim; and thus cases up the font completely. It is provided with doors for access to the font", and gives the covers at Littlebury and Thaxted as examples of the Gothic version of this type [after Paley?]. In Pevsner (1976) as one of several noteworthy font covers in this county: "Case with two tiers of traceried panels hiding the font completely. Top with buttresses, canopies, finial, etc., a little broader and heavier than at Littlebury". Bettley & Pevsner (2007) suggest a date: "Late C15". [NB: the wooden case appears to be the font as well; the buffet doors open out and reveal a lead container that appears to be the only 'font' proper; the casing does not appear to contain a stone font -- to be corroborated in situ].
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to John Whitworth, of www.essexchurches.info, for his photographs of church and font
LID INFORMATION
Date: 16th-17th century?
Material: wood
Notes: Bond describes it as a "floor buffet" type of cover [cf. FontNotes for details]
REFERENCES
- Bettley, James, Essex, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2007, p. 765
- Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 299 and ill. on p. 286
- Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 199
- Davies, J.G., The Architectural Setting of Baptism, London: Barrie and Rockliff, 1962, p. 71
- Great Britain. Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, An Inventory of the historical monuments in Essex, London: H.M. Stationary Office, 1916-1923, vol. 1: xxxi, 306 and pl. opp. p. 304
- Hutton, Graham, English Parish Churches, London: Thames & Hudson, 1976, p. 53
- Paley, Frederick Apthorp, Illustrations of Baptismal Fonts, London, UK: John van Voorst, 1844, p. 26
- Pevsner, Nikolaus, Essex, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1976, p. 33, 381
- Sperling, J.H., "The churches of north-west Essex", CXXXVI [New series no. C], Feb. 1860, The Ecclesiologist, 1860, pp. 16-19; p. 17 / [http://books.google.com/books?id=7ToEAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA2-PA17&lpg=RA2-PA17&dq=wicken+church+font&source=web&ots=gDcCAtKO1K&sig=LzzPAOMH1XuovBLHUB_ukpypd-Y#PRA2-PA17,M1] [accessed 20 Dec 2007]