Haselbeach No. 2 / Haselbech / Haselbeech / Hazlebeach / Hazlebeech / Hazelbeech

INFORMATION

FontID: 05306HAS
Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Michael
Church Patron Saints: St. Michael
Country Name: England
Location: Northamptonshire, East Midlands
Directions to Site: Located 18-20 km NW of Northampton, just SW of the junction of the A508 with A14 and accessible from either
Font Location in Church: [interred beneath the church floor]
Century and Period: 12th - 13th century, Medieval
Described in Bond (1908): "When Hazlebeach [sic] Church, Northants, was 'restored' in 1860, a new font was set up; and the ancient font was solemnly interred beneath the church floor, whereupon another font, yet more ancient, was discovered; this was reinterred; and now [i.e., ca. 1908] this parish has the proud distinction of being the only one on record which is definitely known to have buried two ancient fonts." Noted in Mee (1945): "The round font is 13th century." Described in Stocker (1997) as the late-12th century font which was found in 1860 when a new font was installed; at that time the font in use, a late-medieval one, was being buried when an earlier font was found already buried in the very same place. It was left buried there even when, in 1903, the late-medieval font was reinstalled in the church and "the 1860 font was sold for use in a new urban parish". The 12th-century font is still supposed to be in its burial place [cf. Index for Haselbeach No. 1 for the late-medieval font now in use -- the 1860 font is not listed in this Index on account of its late date]

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone
Font Shape: round
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round

REFERENCES

Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908
Mee, Arthur, The King's England: Northamptonshire, country of spires and stately homes, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1945
Stocker, D.A., "Fons et origo: The Symbolic Death and Resurrection of English Font Stones", I (1997b), Church Archaeology, 1997, pp. 17-25; r["References"]