Rodmersham

Image and permission received (e-mail of 8 September 2013 from Ted Connell, Kent Archaeological Society)

Results: 6 records

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inscription

Scene Description: "RP" and the date 1663 [cf. FontNotes]

view of church exterior - south view

Image Source: digital photograph taken 21 March 2007 by John Salmon [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/375157] [accessed 8 Spetember 2013]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of church interior - chancel - rood-screen, choir-screen; iconostasis

Scene Description: during the 19th-century restoration; the replacement of the old chancel screen was reported in The Builder (9 October 1880: 436): "A fine rood-screen in oak is in progress for Rodmersham Church, near Sittingbourne, Kent. Of the criginal screen only or two small fragments are left, and they afforded the design for, and been incorporated in the new work. The screen contains a deal of delicate detail, and will be surmounted by an elaborate cross. Some rich carved work in old English oak is also in hand, from the designs of Mr. John Lessels, architect, Edinburgh; in one of the circular panels an enlarged and sculptured representation of the old seal of the Abbey of St. Bathan's, at Berwick, has been introduced."

Image Source: illustration in The Building News (issue of 9 December, 1881) reproduced in http://archiseek.com/2012/1881-st-nicholas-church-rodmersham-kent/#.Uix6UD98z1U [accessed 8 September 2013]

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of church interior - nave - looking east

Image Source: digital photograph taken 21 March 2007 by John Salmon [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/375162] [accessed 8 Spetember 2013]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of font

Scene Description: shown here at the centre of the sheet which inlcudes the old piscina, etc.

Image Source: 1800s drawing [ref.: Rodmersham TQ9261] in the Kent Archaeological Society [www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Libr/VisRec/R/ROD/05.htm] [accessed 8 September 2013]

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 8 September 2013 from Ted Connell, Kent Archaeological Society)

view of font

Scene Description: wirth the annotation giving some of its measurements

Image Source: detail of an edited 1800s drawing [ref.: Rodmersham TQ9261] in the Kent Archaeological Society [www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Libr/VisRec/R/ROD/05.htm] [accessed 8 September 2013]

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 8 September 2013 from Ted Connell, Kent Archaeological Society)

INFORMATION

FontID: 05984ROD

Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Nicholas

Church Patron Saints: St. Nicholas of Myra

Church Location: Church Street, Rodmersham, Kent, ME9 0QD

Country Name: England

Location: Kent, South East

Directions to Site: Located 3 km S of Sittingbourne, sandwiched between the A2 and the M2

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Canterbury

Historical Region: Hundred of Milton [aka Middleton] -- Lath of Sherwinhope [aka Scray, Wiwarlet]

Font Location in Church: Inside the church ca. 1877

Century and Period: 12th century [altered], Norman [altered]

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Ted Connell and the Kent Archaeological Society [www.kentarchaeology.org.uk] for the images of the TQ9261 drawing

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

No entry found for Rodmersham in the Domesday survey. Hasted (1798) writes: "King Henry II.[1154-1189] gave the church of Rodmersham to the hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, which was confirmed by king John in his 1st year [1199]. [...] The church, which is dedicated to St. Nicholas. consists of three isles and two chancels [...] At the west end is a handsome tower steeple, built of squared slint, very neat, and of much superior masonry to the rest of the church. There are four bells in it." A font here is noted in Hussey (1852): "The font is a plain block of stone, first squared, then rendered octangular by chamferring the corners till towards the base", without any indication of date. Noted in Glynne (1877). Listed in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as one in a very large group of baptismal fonts that are plain octagonal with straightsided basins; the initials "RP" and the date 1663 are inscribed on this font. The Kent Archaeological Society [www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Libr/VisRec/R/ROD/05.htm] [accessed 8 September 2013] has a drawing of the 1800s [ref.: Rodmersham TQ9261] in which the old font is pictured: the object appears as described in Hussey [cf. supra], the lower part octagonal-to-square, on a rectangular plinth; there is no view of the inscription, but, like the chamfering of the basin, it must have been a later addition; the drawing of the font includes some measurements and a mention that it is made of two blocks of stone. The English Heritage entry for this church [List No. 1120902 / 24-Jan-1967] states that the church was "restored 1875-93 by S.S. Stallwood" [i.e., srchitect S. Slingsby Staffwood]. [NB: we have no information on the present whereabouts of the old font].

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 51.323235, 0.762507

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 51° 19′ 23.65″ N, 0° 45′ 45.02″ E

UTM: 31U 344098 5688148

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone

Font Shape: octagonal (mounted)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal

Diameter (includes rim): 50 cm* [max. width]

Basin Depth: 27.5 cm*

Font Height (less Plinth): 85 cm*

Notes on Measurements: * [in inches as shown on the 1800s drawing]

INSCRIPTION

Inscription Language: letters and numbers

Inscription Notes: a later addition [cf. FontNotes]

Inscription Text: "RP / 1663"

Inscription Source: Tyrrell-Green (1928: 155)

REFERENCES

Glynne, Steven Richard, Sir, Notes on the churches of Kent, London: John Murray, 1877

Hasted, Edward, The History and topographical survey of the County of Kent [...], Canterbury: Printed for the author, by Simmons and Kirkby, 1778-

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

Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928