St. Albans No. 2 / Villa S. Albani

No separate entry found for St. Stephen in the Domesday survey. The Victoria County History (Hertfordhsire, vol. 2, 1908) notes: "The first church of St. Stephen was built by Abbot Wulsin of St. Albans, in the middle of the tenth century. In the reign of Henry I, Gilbert bishop of Limerick[…] consecrated a church here, and it is to this time that the earliest work now existing must be attributed. This includes the west wall of an aisleless nave, part of the masonry of its north wall, and probably part of the north wall of the chancel. The walls are thick, as at St. Michael's, and built of flint with Roman brick quoins, but the original windows, if such they be, in the west wall of the nave are built with stone dressings. No original doorway remains […] At the west end of the south aisle is an interesting fifteenth-century font; on its octagonal bowl are figures of angels holding scrolls, alternating with blank shields, and on the stem eight images—our Lady and Child, St. Barbara, St. Margaret, St. George, St. John Baptist, St. Philip, St. Katherine, and St. Mary Magdalen." An illustration (?) of this font appears listed in The Narional Archives site [http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/rd/35a57362-08af-4f02-89ab-74d9aab59f68] [accessed 28 September 2016], [ref.: D/EBg/3/134], held at the Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies [NB: the item appears to be a drawing in J.C. Buckler's Views of Hertfordshire, vol. III, pt.1 -- not available at The National Archives] [image not available on line]. Cox & Harvey (1907) list a baptismal font of the Decorated period in this church. Tompkins (1922) notes a "fifteenth century font" in this church. Noted in Pevsner & Cherry (1977): "Font. C15, with much figure carving of indifferent quality; small figures in cusped niches, and shapely demi-figures of angels with shields on the bowl." Described in Bonnington (1998, unpublished?): octagonal mounted baptismal font resembling a goblet probably dated to the mid-14th century and made "from a free cutting limestone from the Totternhoe quarry in Bedfordshire. The sides of the basin are decorated with figures: "On three of the four figures a scroll issues from the mouth of an animal. In the fourth case the scroll is simply held in both hands by the figure". These figures, which are separated by a plain shield between them, are identified by Bonnington as the symbols of the four Evangelists. This same scholar informs that the upper rim shows traces of the former hasp and staple of the cover and, that "where the hasp and staple have been removed the stonework has been repaired by indenting a new piece of stone" [a common repair found on fonts from which the staples of the cover where forcefully removed]. He then describes the decoration on the stem [left to right]: 1)John the Baptist pointing to the Agnus Dei; 2)St. Alban; 3)St. Margaret of Antioch; 4)St. Mary Magdalene; 5)Virgin Mary and Child; 6)St. Little Mary of Egypt; 7)St. Catherine of Alexandria; 8)St. Stephen. Bonnington further informs that "the faces of all the figures have been obliterated"; all, that is, except that of John the Baptist, which makes Bonnington suggest that "it is possible the figure of John the Baptist was recut during the 1850 restoration carried out under the direction of Georges Gilbert Scott (later Sir George Gilbert Scott and president of the Royal Institution of British Architects)".