Alcester

No entry found for Alcester in the Domesday survey. The Victoria County History (Warwick, vol. 3, 1945) notes: "The church of Alcester is not included among the grants to the abbey in Ralph's original foundation charter, which is at Coughton Court. Nor is it mentioned in the confirmation of this charter by Robert, Earl of Leicester, [...] and by King Stephen early in 1140. [....] The only evidence that the abbey ever possessed it is contained in an undated confirmation charter of the reign of Henry II" [i.e., 1154-1189]; the VCH entry adds: "the font and other furniture are modern". Baptismal font consisting of a square basin ornamented with floral motifs and with scenes [one of them is the Baptism of Christ in the river Jordan], a columnar base, a cruciform plinth and a tallish pyramidal wooden lid can be seen in a photograph by Edwin Smith in Hutton (1957). [NB: Revd. David Capron, rector, informed BSI that this font is "Victorian, made of Caen stone and erected in 1871 in memory of Frederick Crowe (Rector 1844-1866)." He adds that the font is actually octagonal. of unequal sides, 50 inches high on a plinth, 32 inches overall. The four side plinths depict scenes of the Baptism of Christ, Moses and the crossing of the Red Sea and the showing of Christ to his disciples at Galilee after his Resurrection. [Source: e-mail from Revd. Capron, May 9, 2001 - BSI print archive file] [NB: we do not have any information on the original font of this church]