Shere / Essira / Schyre / Shiere / Shire / Shyre / Sire
Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2018
Image and permission received (e-mail of 18 March 2018)
Results: 11 records
view of font and cover
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2018
Image Source: digital photograph taken 16 December 2017 by Colin Smith
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 18 March 2018)
view of font and cover
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2007
Image Source: digital photograph taken 25 August 2007 by Colin Smith
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: digital image of an engraving by J. Swaine in Hussey (1852)
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of font and cover
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: digital image of a B&W photograph in Bond (1908)
Copyright Instructions: PD
design element - patterns - scalloped - 12
Scene Description: three large scallops on each side
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Pete Reed, 2010
Image Source: digital photograph taken 21 March 2010 by Pete Reed [www.flickr.com/photos/petereed/4451336191/] [accessed 4 August 2010]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0
view of church exterior - east view
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2018
Image Source: digital photograph taken 16 December 2017 by Colin Smith
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 18 March 2018)
view of church exterior
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2015
Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 June 2015 by Colin Smith
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 21 August 2015)
information
Scene Description: plaque celebrating the restoration of the font in 1954
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2015
Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 June 2015 by Colin Smith
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 21 August 2015)
view of font cover
![[cf. FontNotes]](/static-50478a99ec6f36a15d6234548c59f63da52304e5/compressed/1150821023_compressed.png)
Scene Description: [cf. FontNotes]
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2015
Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 June 2015 by Colin Smith
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 21 August 2015)
design element - motifs - roll moulding
Scene Description: forming the capitals and bases of all five columns of the base
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Smith, 2015
Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 June 2015 by Colin Smith
Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 21 August 2015)
design element - motifs - foliage
Scene Description: foliated capitals on the four outer colonnettes
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Pete Reed, 2010
Image Source: digital photograph taken 21 March 2010 by Pete Reed [www.flickr.com/photos/petereed/4451336191/] [accessed 4 August 2010]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0
INFORMATION
Font ID: 05560SHE
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th - 13th century, Medieval
Cognate Fonts: Frensham, Beddington, etc. in the same area
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. James
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, at the W end
Church Patron Saint(s): St. James
Church Address: Church Lane, Shere, Surrey GU5 9HG
Site Location: Surrey, South East, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located 10 km ESE of Guildford, 10 km W of Dorking, just S of the A25
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Guildford
Historical Region: Hundred of Blackheath [in Domesday]
Additional Comments: disappeared font? (the one from the Domesday-time church here)
Font Notes:
Click to view
There is an entry for Shere [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TQ0747/shere/] [accessed 21 August 2015]; it mentions a church in it. A font here is illustrated in Manning (1804-1814). Allen (1831) refers to Manning's illustration of this font. Described in Brandon (1849) as a baptismal font of the Early English period mounted on a columnar base. Noted in Parker's Glossary (1850) as Norman. Brayley (1850) writes: "The font, of Sussex marble, is peculiar in form, and very ancient. The upper stone is square, and has a circular bason for immersion: it is supported by a thick central column, and also by four smaller shafts at the angles, having capitals of sculptured foliage: at the bottom is a triplicated series of round mouldings, surrounding the base of all the columns." Illustrated in Hussey (1852) with an engraving by J. Swaine. Described in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a "cublical with shafts at the angles" baptismal font of the Early English period made of dark Petworth marble from Sussex. [NB: C&H also list a font at Shere, Sussex] Described and illustrated in Bond (1908) as one of "a curious and beautiful class of cup fonts". Described in the Victoria County History (Surrey, vol. 3, 1911): "Close to the west respond of the aisle arcade stands the beautiful font of Purbeck marble, mounted on a stone base-block and step. Its date may be either that of the south doorway—c. 1170—or of the aisle —c. 1200—probably the former. The upper part of the bowl is square with three scallopings, beneath which it changes into a circular form of a bold round section, and the parts left at the angles are carved into the foliated capitals of the four corner-shafts, which, with a stout central drum, support the bowl. These rest upon a continuous base-moulding, which has a deep hollow between two round members, and is carried separately round the shafts and drum." The font has a square basin ornamented with scalloped pattern on the lower sides; it is mounted on a broad centre shaft and four slender colonnettes at the corners, the latter with leaf capitals, all five with moulded bases. The whole is raised on a square plinth of approximately the same width as the basin. There is a flat wooden lid with metal handles on this font. A plaque inside the church commemorates the restoration of the font in 1954, dedicated to the memory of Reynold Jocelyn Onslow Bray, a member of the British-Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1936-1939. Noted in Leach (1975) as a font made of Purbeck marble: "bowl with lower part shaped to fit supports; the subsidiary shafts have foliated capitals" [source given: VCH, 3, 1911].
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Colin Smith for his photographs of this church and font
COORDINATES
UTM: 30U 677109 5677260
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 51.21922, -0.463839
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 51° 13′ 9.19″ N, 0° 27′ 49.82″ W
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, limestone (dark Petworth marble from Sussex)
Font Shape: square, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: square
Drainage Notes: lead-lined
LID INFORMATION
Date: moder
Material: wood, oak?
Apparatus: no
Notes: [cf. FontNotes]
REFERENCES
- Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.
- Allen, Thomas, A History of the County of Surrey ; comprising every object of topographical, geological, or historical interest, London: Isaac Taylor Hinton, 1831, vol. 2: 260fn
- Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 209, 211, 225 and ill. on p. 220
- Borg, Raine, Smålands medeltida dopfuntar, Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, 2002, p. 89
- Brayley, Edward Wedlake, A topographical history of Surrey, London: G. Willis, 1850, vol. 5: 195
- Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 221
- Hussey, Arthur, Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey mentioned in Domesday Book and those of more recent date [...], London: John Russell Smith, 1852, pl. opp. p. 341 [no. 90]
- Leach, Rosemary, A Investigation into the use of Purbeck Marble in Medieval England, Hartlepool: E.W. Harrisons & Sons, 1975, p. 73
- Manning, Owen, The History and Antiquities of the County of Surrey, London: [Printed for J. White by J. Nichols], 1804-1814, vol. 2: 525
- Parker, John Henry, A Glossary of Terms used in Grecian, Roman, Italian and Gothic Architecture, Oxford: J. H. Parker, 1850, p. 213