Walberton / Walburgetone

Noted in Walker (1908). Described and illustrated in Bond (1908) as a plain bucket-shaped basin raised on a doughnut-shaped base or plinth. Bond (ibid.) comments that many of these crude fonts devoid of all ornamentation found, for instance, in the Sussex area, "cannot be proved to be Anglo-Saxon, but neither can they be proved to be Norman". The appearence of the two parts, basin and base, of very different colour and probably type of stone, may be an indication that they were not originally a set. Harrison (1920) reports a disused old font in this church with a nave that dates back to the 11th century. Tyrrell-Green (1928) reported a font at Walberton that had been cast out of the church but later recovered and restored to its original use. Described in Whiteman (1994): "The tub-shaped font may be Saxon or early Norman". The Victoria County History (Sussex, vol. 5, pt. 1, 1997) notes: "There was a church in 1086. [...] In 1105 Robert de Haye, lord of Walberton, gave it to Lessay abbey (Manche) [...] During the later 12th century two-bayed north and south arcades were cut into the eastern end of the possibly pre-Conquest nave; a gable cross which may have been pre-Conquest was discovered in the west wall c. 1903. [...] The early history of the building has been obscured by extensive restoration and rebuilding in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. [...] The font in 1776 was square, supported on four columns; [...] it was replaced in 1843. [...] The present tub-shaped font was inserted at the 1903-4 restoration after being found in a farmyard." Described and illustrated in the CRSBI (2008): "This irregular tapering tub font has an unlined basin and stands on a roughly carved circular plinth, which, in turn, stands on a modern plinth. The rim is carved with cable and is slightly damaged. [...] Despite its uncertain provenance this does appear to have been a font. It can be dated to c.1100, on the basis of its shape, size and cable decoration." The carved rim is in the shape of a fishbone, a central groove with side incisions; now very worn. [NB: we have no information on the whereabouts of the font located in the church in 1776, nor do we know the origin of the tub font found in a farmyard and installed in the church -- wast it the original pre-Conquest vessel?]