Heyshott / Heyshot

Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Early English period. In Harrison (1920): "Font is E[arly] E[nglish], and the caps of the angle pillars form part of the bowl." The Victoria County History (Sussex, vol. 4, 1953) notes: "The font is a single block, its upper part is tubshaped, its lower fashioned into four capitals, perhaps originally 12th-century, later adapted to be set on five shafts, but now resting directly on a plain base. The cover is oak, of the 17th century." Described in Whiteman (1994: "All the fittings are modern except for the font which may date from the 13th century and appears to have been altered from its original form. It is tub-shaped with roll moulding round the rim and has four small shafts with capitals carved into it at the bottom; the oak cover is 17th-century". Described and illustrated in the CRSBI (2008), with date of the early 13th century; the CRSBI entry (ibid.) confirms Whiteman's suspicions and informs that the capitals that adorn the basin underbowl "now stand directly upon a low, square, chamfered plinth rather than upon shafts, which would have been the original arrangement." [NB: this same source reports a fragment of the shaft that measures 24.5 cm in length and that added to the height of the basin (73.5 cm) would bring this whole font to the more average height of around 100 cm expected of most fonts of this perod.] [NB: The CRSBI includes in this group the fonts at Cuckfield, Heyshott, Iford, Ripe, Slindon, West Hoathly and Woodmancote"].