Clare nr. Sudbury

stading permission

Results: 12 records

Click to view images

B01: symbol - shield - in a quatrefoil - pointed or cusped quatrefoil

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2010 by Janice Tostevin for BSI

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

B02: design element - motifs - quatrefoil - in a circle - floral motifs

Scene Description: four rosettes at the inner angles of the quatrefoil [cf. Font notes]

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2010 by Janice Tostevin for BSI

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

B03: symbol - shield - blank - in a cusped panel

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2010 by Janice Tostevin for BSI

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

B04: design element - motifs - floral - square flower - in a quatrefoil - pointed quatrefoil

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2010 by Janice Tostevin for BSI

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

B05: design element - motifs - floral - rose - in a quatrefoil - pointed quatrefoil

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2010 by Janice Tostevin for BSI

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

B06: blank

Scene Description: [cf. Font notes]

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2010 by Janice Tostevin for BSI

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

BU01: design element - motifs - moulding - graded

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2010 by Janice Tostevin for BSI

Copyright Instructions: stading permission

BU02: angel - cherub - 8?

Scene Description: very worned now [cf. Font notes]

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2010 by Janice Tostevin for BSI

Copyright Instructions: stading permission

view of font and cover

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2010 by Janice Tostevin for BSI

Copyright Instructions: stading permission

view of font

Image Source: drawn and engraved by John Greig in 1810, in Storer (1807-1811)

Copyright Instructions: PD

design element - patterns - crenellated

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2010 by Janice Tostevin for BSI

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - patterns - tracery

Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 June 2010 by Janice Tostevin for BSI

Copyright Instructions: stading permission

INFORMATION

Font ID: 05189CLA

Object Type: Baptismal Font1

Font Century and Period/Style: 15th century, Perpendicular

Workshop/Group/Artisan: heraldic font

Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Clare

Font Location in Church: Inside the church

Church Wikidata: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Peter_and_St_Paul%27s_Church,_Clare

Church Patron Saint(s): St. Peter & St. Paul

Church Notes: The abbey of Augustine friars was founded in the mid-13th century

Church Address: High St, Clare, Sudbury CO10 8NY, United Kingdom -- Tel.: +44 1787 277515

Site Location: Suffolk, East Anglia, England, United Kingdom

Directions to Site: Located off the A1092, between Haverhill and Melford, 15 kms NW of Sudbury

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Edmundsbury & Ipswich

Additional Comments: the font is not mentioned in Knott's entry [http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/clare.htm] [accessed 25 July 2025]

Font Notes: Click to view

Noted and illustrated in Storer (1807-1811) with an engraving by John Greig done in 1810: "The font is of stone, and evidently of the same age as the church" [NB: Storer does not assign a date to the church, which he describes as "an ancient and beautiful structure"]. Noted in Lewis' Dictionary of 1848: "an elegantly-designed font in the later English style" [i.e., Perpendicular]. Parker (1855) cites Rickman, a "very fine" Perpendicular font "with good panelling". The basin has a castellated upper rim; some sides have shields inscribed in cusped panels (one is quatrefoil, another is octafoil), others have pointed quatrefoils with inscribed floral motifs (rose, square flower), others yet are round quatrefoils with rosettes at the inside tips; one side is totally blank, not carved, which may suggest it was originally intended to go against a wall or pillar; the basin underbowl has graded moulding on the upper level and cherubs below; the octagonal stem has traceried panels; splayingl lower base and a two-step plinth, both plain. The wooden cover is flat and round, with metal decoration and ring handle; date unknown. There is evidence of damage and old repairs with insered stone. [NB: claim to have a female woodwose in the base?]
A 3-D model of this font made by Douglas Ledingham may be seen in Sketchfab [https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/st-peter-and-st-paul-church-font-clare-suffolk-d9a1e0d7ce91457fb17f7dfeabccef4a] [accessed 25 July 2025]; its caption reads: "Font within St Peter and St Paul Church, Clare, Suffolk, England".

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Janice Tostevin for her photographs of this font

COORDINATES

UTM: 31U 334235 5772570

Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 52.078856, 0.580956

Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 52° 4′ 43.88″ N, 0° 34′ 51.44″ E

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone

Font Shape: octagonal, mounted

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal

LID INFORMATION

Material: wood, oak

Apparatus: no

Notes: [cf. FontNotes]

REFERENCES

Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England, Comprising the Several Counties, Cities, Boroughs, Corporate and Market Towns, Parishes, Chapelries, and Townships, and the Islands of Guernsy, Jersey, and Man, with Historical and Statistical Descriptions [...], London: S. Lewis, 1831, [www.british-history.ec.uk/report.asp?compid=50879] [accessed 24 January 2007]
Storer, James Sargant, The Antiquarian and Topographical cabinet; containing a series of elegant views of the most interesting objects of curiosity in Great Britain, London: Published for the proprietors by W. Clarke, 1807-1811, vol. 8: [unpaged; entry for Clare Castle, and Priory]