Tortington / Tortintone / Torton / Tortyngton
Image copyright © Chris Partridge, 2007
Standing permission
Results: 11 records
view of font and cover
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Chris Partridge, 2007
Image Source: digital photograph taken 9 March 2007 by Chris Partridge [http://sussexchurchez.blogspot.com]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of font and cover
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Martin Snow, 2002
Image Source: digital photograph by Martin Snow, 2002 [www.sussexchurches.co.uk/Images.torotington/index.htm]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: drawing by Philip Mainwearing Johnston [ca. 1900?], [reproduced in www.sussexchurches.co.uk/tortington.htm]
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of basin
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Martin Snow, 2002
Image Source: digital photograph by Martin Snow, 2002 [www.sussexchurches.co.uk/Images.torotington/index.htm]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
design element - motifs - rope moulding
Scene Description: in high relief
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: drawing by Philip Mainwearing Johnston [ca. 1900?], [reproduced in www.sussexchurches.co.uk/tortington.htm]
Copyright Instructions: PD
design element - architectural - arcade - blind - round arches
Scene Description: alternate arches rest on columns; the others end in foliage spreads
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: drawing by Philip Mainwearing Johnston [ca. 1900?], [reproduced in www.sussexchurches.co.uk/tortington.htm]
Copyright Instructions: PD
design element - motifs - roll moulding
Scene Description: around the lower basin side
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: drawing by Philip Mainwearing Johnston [ca. 1900?], [reproduced in www.sussexchurches.co.uk/tortington.htm]
Copyright Instructions: PD
design element - motifs - foliage
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: drawing by Philip Mainwearing Johnston [ca. 1900?], [reproduced in www.sussexchurches.co.uk/tortington.htm]
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of church exterior - southeast view
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Philip Mainwearing Johnston, [ca. 1900?]
Image Source: drawing by Philip Mainwearing Johnston [ca. 1900?], [reproduced in www.sussexchurches.co.uk/tortington.htm]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0
view of font and cover in context
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Martin Snow, 2002
Image Source: digital photograph by Martin Snow, 2002 [www.sussexchurches.co.uk/Images.torotington/index.htm]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of church interior - plan
Scene Description: the font noted in the west end of the 'modern' south aisle
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Philip Mainwearing Johnston, [ca. 1900?]
Image Source: drawing by Philip Mainwearing Johnston [ca. 1900?], [reproduced in www.sussexchurches.co.uk/tortington.htm]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0
INFORMATION
Font ID: 06395TOR
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Date: ca. 1150?
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th century, Norman
Cognate Fonts: Somewhat similar, though more richly ornamented, to the font at Binsted [also others? -- cf. FontNotes]
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene
Font Location in Church: Inside the church. in the W end of the narrow S aisle
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Mary Magdalene [some sources have dedication to St. Thomas]
Church Notes: Church became redundant in 1978 and went into the care of the Churches Conservation Trust
Church Address: Ford Road, Tortington, Arundel, West Sussex, BN18 0FD
Site Location: West Sussex, South East, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located off the A27, just S of Arundel, 6 km NW of Littlehampton
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Chichester
Historical Region: Hundred of Avisford -- Rape of Arundel -- Sussex
Additional Comments: damaged font / repaired font: the bowl has many patches of cement or plaster [NB: email req for repro sent to Churches in Sussex webmaster (Martin Snow?) in Oct 2002 -- again in Sept 2006 -- reply received: OK to repro with credit statement]
Font Notes:
Click to view
Rouse (1825) mentions a font at Torton [sic] church, "well deserving inspection". Noted in Hussey (1852): The font is late Norm[an]. Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Norman period. Harrison (1920) notes: "The Nor[man] font has cable moulding with arcading. Described in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as an early baptismal font with high-relief ornamentation; among the motifs, a rope moulding. Tyrrell-Green (ibid.) lists it as a Norman font the basin of which is decorated with an "arcade in relief, imitating closely the structural arcade of the period". Described in Whiteman (1994) as a "large bowl-shaped font carved with arcading and columns", dated from the 12th century and made of Caen stone. Described and illustrated by Johnston (ca. 1900?): "The font, which is coeval with the chancel arch, has a circular bowl set upon a moulded pedestal (the lower part modern), giving it something, the shape of a chalice. It is in Caen stone and the bowl is finished at the top with a cable moulding, beneath which is an arcade of twelve circular arches, furnished alternately with little shafts-diminutive Norman columns, with capitals and bases--and a bunch of conventional foliage bearing some resemblance to the Greek honeysuckle." This last source gives the font at nearby Binstead as "somewhat similar" [source: http://sussexchurches.co.uk/tortington.htm]. The Victoria County History, Sussex (Sussex, vol. 5, pt. 1, 1997) notes: "The font of Caen stone, of the 12th century, is richly decorated with a cable moulding and arcading with foliage." Listed in the The Churches Conservation Trust [www.visitchurches.org.uk] with date of the 12th century. Described and illustrated in the CRSBI (2008) with suggested date ca. 1150. The CRSBI (ibid.) refers to a local church guide which "compares the font with one at Bishop's Teignton, Devon" and adds: "'PG, p. 154' in GZ's index cards [i.e., George Zarnecki] suggests this belongs to a group of fonts (including Honiton,South Molton, Dun[kes?]well and Luppitt) from a centre of manufacture in Dorset. GZ [id.] added Bishop's Teignton and Blackhawton, Devon."
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Martin Snow, of www.sussexchurches.co.uk, and to Chris Partridge, of http://sussexchurchez.blogspot.com, for their photographs of this font.
COORDINATES
UTM: 30U 670617 5634352
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 50.8357, -0.5769
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 50° 50′ 8.52″ N, 0° 34′ 36.84″ W
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, limestone (Caen stone)
Font Shape: cylindrical, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round
Rim Thickness: 15 cm [calculated]
Diameter (inside rim): 55 cm*
Diameter (includes rim): 85 cm*
Basin Total Height: 50 cm*
Font Height (with Plinth): 127 cm* [includes 19th-century plinth]
Notes on Measurements: * [CRSBI (2008)]
LID INFORMATION
Notes: evidence in the upper rim of staples from old font cover
REFERENCES
- Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.
- Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland. URL: http://www.crsbi.ac.uk.
- Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 223
- Harrison, Frederick, Notes on Sussex churches, Hove: Combridges, 1920, p. 201
- 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, p. 296
- Rouse, James, The Beauties and antiquities of the County of Sussex: forming a general illustration on one hundred and forty-nine spirited views from original drawings […], London: J.F. Setchel, 1825, vol. 1: 329
- Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928, p. 54, 76, 79
- Whiteman, Ken, Ancient Churches of Suffolk, Seaford, East Sussex: S.B. Publications, 1998, p. 156