South Pool / Southpool

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". Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as having a baptismal font of the Norman period. Noted in Stabb (1908) simply as "a fine Norman font." Described and illustrated in Clarke (1916): "The bowl is covered with flutings over the whole depth [...], but just below the rim is incised a row of semicircles with the ends turned inwards. The returned ends are brought to the sides of the flutings , and the half-circles are so cleverly placed that the eye is carried down, and though the flutings are unaltered an entire key device is suggested; the effect is eminently pleasing and refined. Between the semicircles are deep notches, and the rim is a bold round moulding. The low shaft is cylindrical with a narrow necking; the base is an inverted cushion capital [...]. The font is of red sandstone, some portions bear a greyish deposit." The fonts at Rattery and Dittisham in the same county, have similar ornamentation. Noted in Pevsner (1952): "Circular, Norman, with the same curious motif of decoration as at Dittisham."