Farringdon nr. Exeter / Faringdon / Farrington

Listed in Lysons (1806-1822) as a baptismal font "among many of circular form and an early age, enriched with various carved mouldings, wreaths, scrolls, or foliage". Oliver (1840-1842) writes of his visit to this church: "The font is the only object that challenges attention; it belonged to the ancient Fabric: the scroll work is singularly beautiful, but seems to ask to be exposed to better view, and to be purified from the white-washers." Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as having a baptismal font of the Norman period. Described and illustrated in Clarke (1913), who mentions its similarity with the font at St Mary Steps', Exeter [cf. Index entry for Exeter No. 3]: "Bucket shape. Round the rim a band of star-and-pellet, then a band of varied scroll ornament , semi-classical, seven inches deep, bounded by an arris edge, a row of round-headed flutings and a thick cable instead of the chevron of St. Mary Steps. Below the cable is a row of saw-thooth 6 1/4 inches deep. The base is round, with a shaped chamfer. The font has been chiselled over its whole surface, and thereby lost much of its air of antiquity. It stands on a modern square stem composed of slabs of marble inlaid with coloured tiles; these accord with the general decoration of the church, but are an inapprpriate setting for an ancient font." In Pevsner (1952): "Norman, circular, re-cut, the geometrical and scroll decoration similar to St. Mary Steps, Exeter."