Banwell / Banwelle

There is an entry for Banwell [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/ST3959/banwell/] [accessed 20 October 2014], and, despite its size (86 households), it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Warner (1826) remarks: "The pulpit, also, and the font, of Banwell Church, (both ancient, and of stone,) are singularly beautiful […] the latter of a basin-form lavatory, and wooden cover, all richly patterned and finely executed." Described in Rutter (1829): "The ancient font is of large dimensions, and embossed with very roughly scluptured foliage and other devices". Noted in the Handbook for travellers… (1869) and in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Early English period [NB: if this is the same font as the one illustrated in Bond, the dating in Cox & Harvey may be for the original object, which may have been recut at a later period]. Described and illustrated in Bond (1908) as a baptismal font probably recut or mounted: "the bowl and the stem are of twelfth century type, whereas the quatrefoils of the rim are of late Gothic character, and resemble those round the base of the pulpit (c. 1500), while the carved lilies resemble those in the lily pot which forms part of the group of the Annunciation on the western face of the tower". Described in Pevsner (1958): "Circular, Norman, but carved with quatrefoils and plants in the C15 or C16." The base is a short cylindrical pedestal with a moulding at the upper end, all raised on a thicker lower base ornamented with several mouldings. The Jacobean font cover is shaped like an octagonal pyramid with a lower short vertical parapet imitating crenellations and ornamented with spirals in circles, round arches and foliage motifs; it has a small finial figure or cross. Noted in Wade & Wade (1929): "the font (Norman) with unsusual carving on the bowl.