Bideford

Listed in Lysons (1806-1822) as a baptismal font "among many of circular form and an early age, enriched with various carved mouldings, wreaths, scrolls, or foliage". A few years later [probably circa 1825] Oliver (1840-1842) expressed relief at the sight of the font: "Thank Heavens! they have overlooked the ancient font", referring to some of the other "detestable outrageous attempts to convert the appearance of the House of Prayer, into that of a Lecture Room or Theatre". There is a 6 April 1827 pencil-on-paper drawing by John Buckler (1770-1851) in the British Library Collections [Shelfmark: Additional MS 36361; Item number: f.78]; the drawing shows an inscription on the upper surface of the rim; the inscription appears to be in modern English -Mark, 10, 14: "Suffer the little children to come unto me"- and may be actually on an insert, not on the stone rim of the basin]. The Francis Frith archive [http://www.francisfrith.com] has a photograph of this font in its church context taken in 1906. Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Norman period. Described and illustrated in Bond (1908); this Norman baptismal font is roughly chalice-shaped, although more "geometrical" than many of this period, with almost vertical basin sides -eight of them- a diagonal chamfer and a cylindrical pedestal. The ornamentation consists of some chevron patterns at the upper rim side, roped frames all around the basin panels (the panels have different motifs, including a circled cross in the front one), a blind arcade on the chamfer, chevron pattern again at the upper end of the base and rope at the lower. It is all raised on a plain octagonal lower base and equally shaped plint, the last two clearly of a much later date. The date c.1080 is assigned to the font, without source or explanation, in the Bideford page of the www.devon-online.com WEB site. Bond [cf. supra] includes it in his chapter for Norman fonts of the 11th and 12th centuries. Described and illustrated in Stabb (1908): "The Norman font [...], saved from the old church, is circular in shape with double rows of cable moulding and carved panels on the bowl; it is supported on a shaft with cable moulding round the base." Illustrated in Hussell (1910), as made of granite, "one of the best specimens of Early Norman work in the country -- date about 1080 (William I)". Described and illustrated in Clarke (1916); Clarke states that she saw "a drawing of Bideford font, made in 1850 by an artist named Fuller. This shows the bowl only, standing on the floor, without any shaft. Happily the original shaft was preserved, and now [i.e., ca. 1916] supports the bowl." Clarke (ibid.) refers to the alternate twisting to the left and right of the rope motif that frames the panels, such "feature of reversal indicates a rather late in the Norman period", but does not give a precise dating. Clarke (ibid.) further notes the peculiarity that the cable motif at the bottom of the bowl "does not reach the verge of the stone", a feature "already noyed on the bowls of three other fonts in the same neighbourhood: West Putford, Bulkworthy, and Abbot's Bickington". Described in Pevsner (1952): "Font. Large, square [!], Norman, with panels separated by thick roll-mouldings. Listed in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as a font decorated with a rope moulding among other motifs. Three of the panels decorated (Maltese crosses, etc.). The whole type is quite out of the ordinary."