Morton / Morton-on-Swale

Bond (1908: 285) cites an archival source which relates that "in 1519 the font at Morton, Yorkshire, was reported to be defective in the staple, to have neither lock nor key nor font cloth." Bond explains that "the font cloth was not a substitute for a font cover, but was used in addition to it; the cloth being laid on the font and the lid shut down upon it, to protect the water from dust." [NB: nowadays [i.e., the late 1990s] the font cloth is usually found over the font cover, not under it; the "defectiveness" mentioned in the archival text makes reference to the Church directions to the parishes regarding the appropriate care of the baptismal font and its accessories]