Salehurst / Salhert

Noted in Paley (1844) as one of a few fonts on which the salamander appears: "this creature typifies Baptism 'with the Holy Ghost and with Fire'" although, Paley adds, they are "usually represented on fonts as a lizard or a serpent-like animal." Illustrated in André (1901). Described in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a cup-shaped baptismal font of the Norman period "round the base of which is a cordon of salamanders". Walker (1908) cites a local legend that attributes the font to a donation by king Richard I (1189-1199). Bond (1908), too, notes the salamanders. Harrison (1920) writes: "font (late 12th c.) with three salamanders round base, which is situated in an atrium separated from nave by screen". Tyrrell-Green (1928) describes them as "creatures generally thought to be salamanders also encircle the base of the otherwise plain font at Salehurst [...], though these last might represent demons, powers of evil being very often represented beneath the bowl of the font, as being overcome by the grace of the sacrament". Anderson (1955) mentions the presence of the salamander on this font. Described in Whiteman (1994): "The font, beneath the tower, has a base encircled by carved salamanders; tradition maintains that it was presented by Richard I, which would give it a late 12th-century date". [NB: the Salehurst local web site informs that the font was given to the church in 1210 by the abbot of Robertsbridge Abbey, when the abbey moved near the church. The Abbey had received the font for its part in the discovery and eventual return of Richard the Lion Heart]. Described and illustrated in the CRSBI (2008), with the comment: "There are grounds for considering the font to be inspired by one that originally stood in Battle Abbey, which is nearby. In April 1999 a small Purbeck marble carving of a salamander was excavated from the Abbey by English Heritage (see entry under Fort Cumberland, Hants). Similarities between its form and that of the Salehurst salamanders suggests that it also adorned a font base. It is thus possible to suggest that the Salehurst font is a local copy of the higher quality font which stood in Battle Abbey. It probably dates from the 12thc." The CRSBI (ibid.) adds: "Among Richard Hussey's drawings in the Bodleian is one of the font, in 1830, with the note: 'bowl re-worked and top moulding quite altered, 1865' (Zarnecki)", and that Zarnecki dated the font to the 12th century ["G. Zarnecki unpublished card index, 1950s"].