Bisley / Biselege / Biseleie / Bisley nr. Stroud

PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

Results: 29 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

animal - fish - 2

Scene Description: the basin, if originally Norman, as some claimed, was much re-carved; the pedestal base was produced in 1862 by a local stonemason [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

design element - motifs - braid

Scene Description: the basin, if originally Norman, as some claimed, was much re-carved; the pedestal base was produced in 1862 by a local stonemason [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

design element - motifs - braid

Scene Description: the basin, if originally Norman, as some claimed, was much re-carved; the pedestal base was produced in 1862 by a local stonemason [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

design element - motifs - rope moulding

Scene Description: the basin, if originally Norman, as some claimed, was much re-carved; the pedestal base was produced in 1862 by a local stonemason [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

design element - patterns - interlace - beaded-tape - varied

Scene Description: the basin, if originally Norman, as some claimed, was much re-carved; the pedestal base was produced in 1862 by a local stonemason [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of base

Scene Description: the pedestal base was produced in 1862 by a local stonemason [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of base

Scene Description: the pedestal base was produced in 1862 by a local stonemason [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of base

Scene Description: the pedestal base was produced in 1862 by a local stonemason [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of base

Scene Description: the pedestal base was produced in 1862 by a local stonemason [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of base

Scene Description: the pedestal base was produced in 1862 by a local stonemason [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of base

Scene Description: the pedestal base was produced in 1862 by a local stonemason [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of basin

Scene Description: the basin, if originally Norman, as some claimed, was much re-carved [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of basin

Scene Description: the basin, if originally Norman, as some claimed, was much re-carved [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of basin

Scene Description: the basin, if originally Norman, as some claimed, was much re-carved [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of basin

Scene Description: the basin, if originally Norman, as some claimed, was much re-carved [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of basin

Scene Description: the basin, if originally Norman, as some claimed, was much re-carved [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of basin

Scene Description: the basin, if originally Norman, as some claimed, was much re-carved [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of basin

Scene Description: the basin, if originally Norman, as some claimed, was much re-carved [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of basin - interior

Scene Description: the basin, if originally Norman, as some claimed, was much re-carved; the pedestal base was produced in 1862 by a local stonemason [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of church exterior - northwest view

Scene Description: Source caption: "All Saints church at Bisley was mostly rebuilt in the early 1860s, however, it may have originally been an Anglo-Saxon minister."

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 3 May 2008 by Philip Halling in Geograph [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/786958] [accessed 28 July 2021]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.5

view of church exterior - south view

Scene Description: Source caption: "All Saints church at Bisley was mostly rebuilt in the early 1860s, however, it may have originally been an Anglo-Saxon minister."

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph 3 May 2008 by Philip Halling in Geograph [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/786952] [accessed 28 July 2021]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.5

view of font

Scene Description: the basin, if originally Norman, as some claimed, was much re-carved; the pedestal base was produced in 1862 by a local stonemason [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of font

Scene Description: the basin, if originally Norman, as some claimed, was much re-carved; the pedestal base was produced in 1862 by a local stonemason [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of font

Scene Description: the basin, if originally Norman, as some claimed, was much re-carved; the pedestal base was produced in 1862 by a local stonemason [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of font

Scene Description: the basin, if originally Norman, as some claimed, was much re-carved; the pedestal base was produced in 1862 by a local stonemason [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of font

Scene Description: the basin, if originally Norman, as some claimed, was much re-carved; the pedestal base was produced in 1862 by a local stonemason [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of font

Scene Description: the basin, if originally Norman, as some claimed, was much re-carved; the pedestal base was produced in 1862 by a local stonemason [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of font

Scene Description: the basin, if originally Norman, as some claimed, was much re-carved; the pedestal base was produced in 1862 by a local stonemason [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: digital photograph 6 August 2019 by Rita Wood

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (transfer of 29 July 2021)

view of font and cover

Scene Description: the basin, if originally Norman, as some claimed, was much re-carved; the pedestal base was produced in 1862 by a local stonemason [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: B&W photograph taken ca.1900s by George Love Dafnis, in Bath in Time, Private Collection [www.bathintime.co.uk/image/808283/font-all-saints-church-bisley-gloucestershire-c-1900s] [accessed 18 December 2015]

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

INFORMATION

FontID: 06593BIS

Church/Chapel: Parish Church of All Saints

Church Patron Saints: All Saints

Church Location: Parsons Lane, Bisley, Gloucestershire, GL6 7BB, UK

Country Name: England

Location: Gloucestershire, South West

Directions to Site: Located 6-7 km E of Stroud, in the Costwolds, equidistant between Cirencester and Gloucester

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Gloucester

Historical Region: Hundred of Bisley

Font Location in Church: Restored inside the church since 1862

Century and Period: 11th - 12th century [basin only] [altered?] -- [modern base?], Medieval / composite

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are gratefult to Rita Wood for her information on and images of this font

Church Notes: "The parish church of ALL SAINTS, recorded by that dedication from c. 1230" [cf. VCH entry in FootNotes]

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

There is an entry for this Bisley [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SO9005/bisley/] [accessed 18 December 2015]; it mentions two priests but no church in it, although there probably was one there. Lewis (1831) writes: "In the churchyard there is an octagonal cross, handsomly panelled in trefoil, and surmounted with an ancient font, erected over a well, in which a man having been drowned, the cemetery was placed under an interdict for three years". "The bowl of the font, originally made in the Norman period, was found in 1850 on the top of the well cover [the "Bonehouse" / "Bone House" well]. In 1862, during extensive restoration of the church, it was restored to its proper place in the church. A pedestal for the font was carved by the Rev. T. Meyrick of Corpus Christy College, Oxford." [source: www.web.ukonline.co.uk]. Another source confirms the above and identifies "a carving of two fish on the inside" of the basin; the person responsible for the restoration of the well and the font's return to the church is identified as Vicar Thomas Keble. [source: Richard L. Pederick in www.bath.ac.uk/~prsrlp/kernunos/england/seven.htm]. The entry for this parish in the Victoria County History (Gloucester, vol. 11, 1976) notes: "There was probably a church at Bisley in pre-Conquest times and 2 priests were recorded there in 1086. [...] The likelihood of there being a church on the site in pre-Conquest times is supported by the existence of some carved Saxon stonework built into the fabric. [...] The church was apparently completely rebuilt in several stages during the 14th century [...] but little ancient work survives, for it was largely rebuilt in 1862 [...] The font has a Norman bowl of rough workmanship, which was in the churchyard for many years until 1862 when it was restored to its proper use and a new pedestal carved for it in matching style." [the latter VCH reference is footnoted: "Rudd, Bisley with Lypiatt, 178-9. The writer on fonts in Trans. B.G.A.S. xxxiii. 293, 301 and xlix. 123, 140-3, was misled into describing the pedestal as original."] Noted in Verey & Brooks (1999-2002): "Font. Norman bowl ornamented with conventional designs including fleur-de-lys; two fishes are carved in relief in the bottom of the basin. According to Lowder [i.e., Rev. William H.Lowder], the stem, on which the bowl was based in 1862, was the 'work of an amateur carver whose happy ignorance of the art of modern stone carving has produced a spirited specimen of rude Anglo-Norman of the nineteenth century'. It looks surprisingly authentic; was it just re-cut? -- Also an C18 baluster font" [no separate entry in the Index]. There is an interesting review of Charles Pooley's 'Notes on the old crosses of Gloucestershire' (Longmans, 1868) published in The Ecclesiologist (No. CLXXXVI, June 1868: 182) which notes on the subject of the churchyard at Bisley: "We notice the almost incredible statement that the font, now within the church, used formerly to stand upon the summit of the churchyard cross. It is most probable, we think, that this structure was a well-head." [NB: all other churches and chapels in Bisley, hamlets of Bussage, Chalford, France Lynch and Oakridge, are of the 18th century or later]. A communication to BSI from Rita Wood (e-mail od 28 July 2021) noted that "the upper side of the basin had been worked with a claw [...] the inside as well as the outside had been recut [...] it was obvious: one of the cable mouldings near the rim dipped sharply down and up, following a broken edge. No, this was not just recutting of an earlier design, someone had chosen to work ‘medieval’ motifs into the sides of a damaged plain tub. One thing that had struck me when taking the photographs, was the coarse grain of the bowl, how its roughness caught the light. It was too coarse for fine carving, though the different stone used for the stem might have taken it. The misleading assumption of ancientness goes back to Mr Lowder (curate and architect). About twenty years after he had restored Bisley, Mr Lowder, by then a vicar in Cheshire, came back to address a meeting of the county archaeological society in Stroud. He said the bowl of the font was the principal item to survive from the medieval church at Bisley, and describes how it had formerly been outside in the church-yard [cf. supra] [...] Nothing is said about the appearance of the bowl, though Lowder, responsible for the restoration and present during it, must have known what had been done. Victorian restorers didn’t like to admit they recut anything, and hadn’t much idea about Anglo-Norman either."

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 51.752158, -2.141049

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 51° 45′ 7.77″ N, 2° 8′ 27.77″ W

UTM: 30U 559292 5733822

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone

Font Shape: round (mounted)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: round

LID INFORMATION

Date: modern

Material: wood,

Apparatus: no

Notes: round and flat, with some metal moulding or carving on the upper surface; modern

REFERENCES

Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. Accessed: 2008-09-18 00:00:00. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.

Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England, Comprising the Several Counties, Cities, Boroughs, Corporate and Market Towns, Parishes, Chapelries, and Townships, and the Islands of Guernsy, Jersey, and Man, with Historical and Statistical Descriptions [...], London: S. Lewis, 1831

Verey, David, Gloucestershire, London: Penguin Books, 1999-2002