Gillingham nr. Chatham No. 2 / Gelingeham

INFORMATION

FontID: 05283GUI
Church/Chapel: [St Mark's?]
Country Name: England
Location: Kent, South East
Directions to Site: Located off (S) the B2004 [aka Pier Rd], 3 km ENE of Chatham, about 10 km N of Maidstone
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Rochester
Historical Region: Hundred of Chatham
Font Location in Church: Inside the church?
Century and Period: 15th century, Perpendicular
Cognate Fonts: [cf. FontNotes]
There are two entries for this Gillingham [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ7868/gillingham/] [accessed 11 November 2019] one of which reports a church in it. Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Perpendicular period. Mentioned in Bond (1908) among a group of "fonts with appendages"; he identifies the one on this font as "a book rest". Buck (1951) notes: "the stone book-rest is attached to the pillar alongside which the font has been placed", of which Buck mentions Wraxall (Somerset), Sonning (Berkshire), Beckley (Oxfordshire) and Gillingham (Kent). [cf. Index entry for Gillingham No. 1 St Mary's (Kent) for a Norman font in this location]

COORDINATES

UTM: 31U 329523 5695488

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone
Font Shape: octagonal (mounted)
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal

REFERENCES

Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908
Buck, A.G. Randle, "Some Wiltshire fonts. Part II", LIV, CXCIV (June 1951), The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine, 1951, pp. 19-35; r["References"]
Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907