Woodstock / Wodestoch

Image copyright © Parishes of Woodstock and Bladon, 2009

PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

Results: 6 records

design element - architectural - arcade - blind - trefoiled arches

Scene Description: all around the basin; not all arches are similar

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Wilkes, 2009

Image Source: Image courtesy & copyright © John Wilkes, 2009 [www.allthecotswoilds.com]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - motifs - floral - rosette

Scene Description: small ones, all around the upper basin rim

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Wilkes, 2009

Image Source: Image courtesy & copyright © John Wilkes, 2009 [www.allthecotswoilds.com]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

design element - motifs - tracery

Scene Description: on the upper part of the arches

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Wilkes, 2009

Image Source: Image courtesy & copyright © John Wilkes, 2009 [www.allthecotswoilds.com]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church exterior - west tower

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Wilkes, 2009

Image Source: digital photograph taken by John Wilkes [www.allthecotswoilds.com]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]

Image Source: Guide... (1846: 117)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of font and cover

Scene Description: note the font now mounted on a modern base

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Parishes of Woodstock and Bladon, 2009

Image Source: digital photograph [http://parishes.oxford.anglican.org/bladon-woodstock/page17.html] [accessed 13 January 2009]

Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

INFORMATION

FontID: 05787WOO
Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene
Church Patron Saints: St. Mary Magdalene
Church Location: Park Street, Woodstock OX20 1SJ, United Kingdom -- Tel.: +44 1993 81291
Country Name: England
Location: Oxfordshire, South East
Directions to Site: Located off (E) the A44, 14-15 km WNW of Oxford, near Blenheim Palace
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Oxford
Historical Region: Hundred of Wootton
Font Location in Church: Inside the church [cf. FontNotes]
Century and Period: 14th century (mid?) [modern base] [composite font], Medieval [composite]
Cognate Fonts: Similar in general terms to the font at nearby Kiddington [cf. FontNotes for others]
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to John Wilkes, of www.allthecotswolds, for his photographs of church and font
There is an entry for Woodstock [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SP4417/woodstock/] [accessed 6 December 2017], but it mentions neither priest nor church in it. The Guide to the Architectural Antiquities of the Neighbourhood of Oxford (1846) describes and illustrates an octagonal baptismal font ornamented with a blind arcade of Ogee arches all around the sides of its basin; these arches, some double, some triple, have tracery ornamentation on their upper part; the upper basin side, just under the rim, is decorated with a row of small bell-like motifs. The inner well of the font is round. The font has no base proper but it is raised on a tall quadrangular plinth. The Guide ((ibid.) explains that this font, "which is a good Decorated one, is at present in the garden of Mr. North, but it is hoped that it will speedily be restored to its proper place in the Church". The same Guide (ibid.) informs that, at the time, the font was "a modern marble pillar and basin". The Ecclesiastical and Architectural Topography of England: Oxfordshire (1850) notes: "There is good D[ecorated], now in the garden." Noted in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as one of group of 14th-century fonts in the Decorated style ornamented with varied patterns of blind tracery (in this group are: Offley in Herts.; Weobley in Hereford; Goadby Marwood and Noseley in Leics.; Barrowby, Carlton Scroope and Haydor in Lincs.; Northampton St. Peter's; Kiddington, Bloxham and Woodstock in Oxon.;Brailes in Warwick, and Patrington in Yorkshire). The Victoria County History (Oxford, vol. 12, 1990) notes: "The church, of which the south doorway is of the 12th century, was presumably established when the borough was founded by Henry II [i.e., 1154-1189] [...] Before 1731 the carved octagonal 14th-century font was removed from the church and replaced by a slim pedestal and bowl. The old font was kept in the garden of no. 9 Park Street until reinstalled in the church and given a new base in 1877-8." Noted in Sherwood & Pevsner (1974): "Dec[orated], octagonal, with blank traceried arches and ballflower around the rim." The Church of England site for the Parishes of Woodstock and Bladon [http://parishes.oxford.anglican.org/bladon-woodstock/page17.html] [accessed 13 January 2009] shows the old font currently mounted on a modern octagonal moulded base. The font is now furnished with a wooden cover consisting of a flat octagonal piece with four vertical scrolls arounf a centre pivot; modern. [NB: the fabric of the church goes back to the 12th century but we have no information on the earlier font of this church, but the VCH entry for East Hagbourne notes that the Church of St. Peter at nearby North Hagbourne is modern, of ca. 1890, but " "The lower portion of the bowl of the font was brought from Woodstock, and is traditionally said to be that in which King John was baptized."

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone
Number of Pieces: one
Font Shape: octagonal (unmounted)
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal

LID INFORMATION

Date: modern
Material: wood,
Apparatus: no
Notes: [cf. FontNotes]

REFERENCES

Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. Accessed: 2009-04-25 00:00:00. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.
Oxford Society for Promoting the Study of Gothic Architecture, Guide to the Architectural Antiquities in the Neighbourhood of Oxford, A, Oxford: John Henry Parker [for the Society], 1846
Parker, John Henry, The Ecclesiastical and architectural topography of England: Oxfordshire, Oxford, London: Published under the sanction of the Central Commitee of the Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland [by] John Henry Parker, 1850
Pevsner, Nikolaus, Oxfordshire, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1974
Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928