Northallerton No. 1 / Alretone / Aluerton / Aluertune / Alvertona / Alvertune / North Allerton / North Alverton

There is a 1773 ink-on-paper drawing of this font by Samuel Hieronymus Grimm (1733-1794) in the British Library collections [Shelfmark: Additional MS 15548 - Item number: f. 20]. Noted in Glynne's 18 April 1842 visit to this church (in Butler, 2007): "There is a bad modern octangular font" [NB: footnoted by Butler (ibid.): "The font is dated 1662"]. Described and illustrated in Ingledew (1858): "The original font seems to have been destroyed or made away with in some other way during the great rebellion, in common with many others in this neighbourhood; and the same hand appeal's to have been employed in restoring them. This present font, which is figured below, is a plain and tasteless piece of work, supported on the same column which sustained the former one. It is octangular and on four of its sides contains the following legends:-- T. M. [Thomas Mann, vicar], 1662. -- R. C. -- I. S. G. W. -- T. D. -- These latter being the initials of the four churchwardens of the time. A wooden pyramidal cover is suspended from the roof beneath a gallery, and works with a pulley." Ingledew (ibid.) further notes that a Saxon church here is likely, but documentary evidence dates back to a dispute between Prior Thomas I and Bishop Pudsey in 1162, but the church was destroyed in the Scots sacking of 1318; the re-building was apparently delayed "until the time of bishop Hatfield between 1345 and 1381". Described in Bulmer's Directory... (1890): "The font is a plain octagonal bowl, bearing the date 1662, and the initials of the churchwardens at that time." Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a Restoration baptismal font dated 1662. Listed in Bond (1908) as having a Post-Reformation font cover dating to 1662. The Victoria County History (York Nirth Riding, vol. 1, 1914) notes: "Although, apart from the fragments of Saxon crosses, there is no positive evidence of a building earlier than the 12th century upon the site, it is probable that a pre-Conquest church existed from which the present structure has grown. [...] The church of Northallerton was in existence before the end of the 12th century, when it belonged to the priory of St. Cuthbert of Durham [...] The font dates from 1662; the bowl is octagonal in plan and stands on a fluted stem. Over it is an 18th-century tall wood canopy." In Morris (1931) as a Restoration font "with coeval canopy" [but the Parish web [http://cofe-northallerton.org.uk/page8.html] [accessed 22 December 2011] site identifies the present cover as "an 18th century wooden canopy"]. Pevsner (1985) notes: "Font. 1662, and wholly typical of that date, with the numerals, simple initials, and elementary geometrical patterns." The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SE3673894206] notes: "Parish church. C12, early C13, C14, C15; C19 restoration [...] On the sill of the north transept window, ancient carved stones including a Saxon cross head [...] Font: octagonal shaft, fluted with 'linenfold' motif; octagonal basin with date 1662 on one side, initials and decorative motifs on other sides; tall C18 canopy." The sides of the basin are decorated thus: 1)geometric design with circles and semi-circles in the shape of a cross -- 2)blank shield with two small buttons of florettes in the lower corners of the panel -- 3)lozenge-shape motif with a dot in the centre, the initial TM in the upper sides of the panel, two fleurs-de-lis in the lower sides -- 4)1662 -- 5)R C [or G] / I S -- 6)G W / T D -- 7)geometric design somewhat like side 1, but including a lozenge in the centre -- 8)12-petal rosette. The octagonal base may, as suggested above, have been part of an earlier font, but not the original Norman or late-Norman; its fluted (?) pattern is very eroded. The wooden cover is an octagonal pyramid that has a large motif or symbol on each of its lower sides; it is raised and lower with a chain-pulley.