Lilleshall / Lilleshull / Linleshelle / Lylleshull
Image copyright © Aidan McRae Thomson, 2012
Standing permission
Results: 14 records
view of font and cover
Scene Description: the moulded pedestal base is modern
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Aidan McRae Thomson, 2012
Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 May 2012 by Aidan McRae Thomson [www.flickr.com/photos/amthomson/7356866714] [accessed 9 July 2015]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: detail of a engraving in Eyton (1859)
Copyright Instructions: PD
design element - motifs - rope
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Aidan McRae Thomson, 2012
Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 26 May 2012 by Aidan McRae Thomson [www.flickr.com/photos/amthomson/7356866714] [accessed 9 July 2015]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
design element - motifs - piping
Scene Description: a band/row of
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Aidan McRae Thomson, 2012
Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 26 May 2012 by Aidan McRae Thomson [www.flickr.com/photos/amthomson/7356866714] [accessed 9 July 2015]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
design element - architectural - arcade - round arches - columns with capitals and bases
Scene Description: each with a symbol or motif in it -- in one section of the arcade some of the arches cross others and form a sort of interlace, some of the spaces with lozenges in them
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Aidan McRae Thomson, 2012
Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 26 May 2012 by Aidan McRae Thomson [www.flickr.com/photos/amthomson/7356866714] [accessed 9 July 2015]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
design element - motifs - varied
Scene Description: piping, fret, etc.
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Aidan McRae Thomson, 2012
Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 26 May 2012 by Aidan McRae Thomson [www.flickr.com/photos/amthomson/7356866714] [accessed 9 July 2015]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
design element - motifs - varied
Scene Description: some are foliage-like, others lozenge-shaped, etc. [cf. FontNotes]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Aidan McRae Thomson, 2012
Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 26 May 2012 by Aidan McRae Thomson [www.flickr.com/photos/amthomson/7356866714] [accessed 9 July 2015]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of church exterior - south portal - detail
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Aidan McRae Thomson, 2012
Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 May 2012 by Aidan McRae Thomson [www.flickr.com/photos/amthomson/7171648039] [accessed 9 July 2015]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of church exterior - south view
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Aidan McRae Thomson, 2012
Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 May 2012 by Aidan McRae Thomson [www.flickr.com/photos/amthomson/7356862450] [accessed 9 July 2015]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of church exterior - portal
Scene Description: as seen in the mid-19th century
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: engraving in Anderson (1864)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of church interior - nave - looking west
Scene Description: the font is visible in the right bank of benches
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Aidan McRae Thomson, 2012
Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 May 2012 by Aidan McRae Thomson [www.flickr.com/photos/amthomson/7356866714] [accessed 9 July 2015]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of church interior - nave - looking east
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Aidan McRae Thomson, 2012
Image Source: digital photograph taken 26 May 2012 by Aidan McRae Thomson [www.flickr.com/photos/amthomson/7171648241] [accessed 9 July 2015]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of church interior - nave
Scene Description: as seen in the mid-19th century
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: engraving in Anderson (1864)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of font in context
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: engraving in Eyton (1859-)
Copyright Instructions: PD
INFORMATION
Font ID: 05439LIL
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 11th - 12th century [basin only], Medieval / composite
Cognate Fonts: [cf. FontNotes]
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Michael and All Angels
Font Location in Church: Inside the church [cf. FontNotes]
Church Patron Saint(s): St. John the Evangelist? - St. Michael & All Angels?
Church Address: Church Road, Lilleshall, Lilleshall, Shropshire, TF10 9HE
Site Location: Shropshire, West Midlands, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located about 6 km ENE of Telford, just off the A518
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Lichfield
Historical Region: Hundred of Wrockwardine [in Domesday] -- Hundred of Bradford
Additional Comments: recycled font / disused font / restored font / altered font : Norman footless font was added a base at a later date [cf. FontNotes] and moved in and out of the church at different times
Font Notes:
Click to view
There is an entry for Lilleshall [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SJ7215/lilleshall/] [accessed 9 Juky 2015], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. The Archaeological Journal (vol. 11, December 1854: 413) proceedings of the British Archaeological Association meeting, records: "The Rev. Walter Blunt sent a notice of the Norman font in Lilleshall Church, Shropshire, accompanied by sketches of the singular ornaments sculptured upon it. The form is cylindrical, an arcade of round arches supported by very short columns partly round, being partly interrupted by interlaced work of rude design. Under the arches are foliated and other ornaments, the intention of which is very obscure: in one of these compartments appear three cubes, like dice, in another six. Under the arcade is a band of ornament, which seems to be a variety of the Chinese-like Z ornamentation, the full development of which is shown from Irish MSS. by Mr. Westwood […]" Noted and illustrated in Eyton (1859) and in Anderson (1864), as a Norman font [NB: the source illustration in both authors is the same, an engraving probably from a drawing by J. Roberts]. Noted in Romilly Allen (1888) as one of several "examples of fonts with ornmament of early character". Walker (1891) writes: "There is a stone font in the church, which is probably the only remains of what may have been used in the Saxon church ; for although itself not Saxon, it is considered to be A.D. 1100 or early in the twelfth century, and so before the present church was built". Noted in Hare (1898). Noted in Timmins (1899), much in the same manner as Walker [cf. supra]. Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a noteworthy baptismal font of the Norman period. Described in Bond (1908) as one among "a considerable number of Norman fonts, which once were placed on the floor, have been mounted on a pedestal or on shafts at a later period." Noted in the Victoria County History (Shropshire, vol. 11, 1985): "The font, presumed to have been made for Lilleshall, seems to indicate that a church existed by the early 12th century, and the dedication to St. Michael, though not traced in medieval records, may denote an early religious site [...] In 1792-3 [...] the ancient font was removed, and in 1795 stood under a nearby farmyard pump [...] The richly ornamented font is 12th-century. It was restored to the west end of the church in 1826 and furnished with a new pedestal, [...] so replacing an 'elegant marble vase' of 1799-1800 [...] that had stood within the communion rail. In 1856 the font was placed on a square platform set with medieval tiles from the chancel floor." In Newman & Pevsner (2006) as Norman. The CRSBI (2008) mentions the fonts at Bradley (Staffs) and Lilleshall (Salop) as being of similar design as the one in Church Eaton: "The workshop apparently came from Gnosall, where the unusual spiral triangle sawtooth motif can be seen on a stringcourse, and similar chip-carvings on imposts. This sugests a date of c. 1100 or slightly afterwards for the Church Eaton font". [NB: an interesting characteristic of this basin is its uncanny resemblance to some of the medieval lead fonts of this country].
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Aidan McRae Thomson, of Warwickshire Churches [warwickshirechurches.weebly.com/], for his photographs of this church and font
COORDINATES
UTM: 30U 539922 5843115
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 52.736427, -2.408724
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 52° 44′ 11.14″ N, 2° 24′ 31.4″ W
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, sandstone?
Font Shape: cylindrical, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round
LID INFORMATION
Date: modern
Material: wood
Apparatus: no
Notes: round, flat and plain; modern
REFERENCES
- Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.
- Allen, J. Romilly, "On the Antiquity of Fonts in Great Britain", XLIV, Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 1888, pp. 164-173; p. 171
- Anderson, John Corbet, Shropshire, its early history and antiquities, comprising […], London: Willis and Sotheran, 1864, p. 162
- Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 45
- Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland. URL: http://www.crsbi.ac.uk.
- Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 215
- Eyton, Robert William, The Antiquities of Shropshire, London: John Russell Smith, 1856-, vol. VIII: 5, 228
- Hare, Augustus John Cuthbert, Shropshire, London: G. Allen, 1898, p. 253
- Newman, John, Shropshire, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006, p. 326
- Timmins, H. Thornhill, Nooks and corners of Shropshire, London: Elliot Stock, 1899, p. 154
- Walker, C.C., A brief history of Lilleshall and description of Lilleshall Abbey, Newport, Market Drayton & Stone: Horne & Bennion, 1891, p. 6