Broadwindsor / Broadwinsor / Broad Windsor / Windesore

Main image for Broadwindsor / Broadwinsor / Broad Windsor / Windesore

Image copyright © Basher Eyre, 2013

CC-BY-SA-2.5

Results: 4 records

view of font and cover

Source caption: "St. John the Baptist, Broadwindsor: font"
Scene Description: Source caption: "St. John the Baptist, Broadwindsor: font"
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Basher Eyre, 2013
Image Source: digital photograph 4 September 2013 by Basher Eyre [https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3970202] [accessed 11 February 2023]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.5

view of font and cover in context

Source caption: "Font in church of St. John the Baptist, Broadwindsor, Dorset"
Scene Description: Source caption: "Font in church of St. John the Baptist, Broadwindsor, Dorset"
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Edmund Shaw, 2013
Image Source: digital photograph 23 September 2013 by Edmund Shaw [https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3675468] [accessed 11 February 2023]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.5

view of font and cover

Font image
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © The Dorset Historic Churches Trust, 2002
Image Source: The Dorset Historic Churches Trust [www.dorsethistoricchurchestrust.co.uk]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church exterior - southeast view

Source caption: "Church of the Nativity of St John The Baptist"
Scene Description: Source caption: "Church of the Nativity of St John The Baptist"
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Ray Jennings, 2019
Image Source: digital photograph 24 August 2019 by Ray Jennings [https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/7354533] [accessed 11 February 2023]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.5

INFORMATION

Font ID: 06657BRO
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th - 13th century, Late Norman
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. John the Baptist / The Nativity of Sj. John the Baptist
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, in the N aisle [not its original position -- cf. FontNotes]
Church Patron Saint(s): St. John the Baptist
Church Address: 1 Church Path, Broadwindsor, Beaminster DT8 3QE, UK
Site Location: Dorset, South West, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located off the B3163, 11-12 km N of Bridport
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Salisbury
Historical Region: Hundred of Beaminster [in Domesday]
Font Notes:
There are two entries for Broadwindsor [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/ST4302/broadwindsor/] [accessed 11 February 2023], neither of which mentions cleric or church in it. Pulman (1854) notes: "The font, which stands in the north aisle, is perhaps coeval with the oldes parts of the church, and deserves the particular attention of the visitor. It is a large square bason of stone resting upon a single shaft, or rather a cluster of shafts, composed of a large central cylinder, with four circular columns of smaller size set against it at equal distances from each other ;[…] At Broadwinsor the font has been moved more than once, having occupied its present position but a few years only." Noted in the 3rd ed. of Hutchins (1973 c1861-1874): "The font is Norman, and has a square bowl and base of Purbeck marble." Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907), in Long (1923) and in Mee (1939) as a baptismal font of the Norman period. Described in Kelly's 'Directory fo Dorset' of 1931 as a Norman font, the upper part made of 'Purbeck marble' [a type of limestone]. In Newman & Pevsner (1972): "Font. Square, of Purbeck marble, with simple geometrical motifs. It is of c.1200?" Described and illustrated in The Dorset Historic Churches Trust site [www.dorsethistoricchurchestrust.co.uk] The font consists of a square basin with a round inner well, mounted on a quadrangular block with highlighted corner columns, lower base and plinth. The flat wooden cover with metal reinforcements appears modern. The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: ST4377702651] notes: "Parish Church. Late C12, early C13 core, C15 west tower with reset material. Drastic restoration by G M Allen of Crewkerne (1868) [...] font: square Purbeck stone bowl with stone base corner responds, Cl3." Noted in Leach (1975) as a font made of Purbeck marble: "bowl with checker and diagonally cut patterns on faces; the subsidiary shafts are atteched" [source given: RCHM (W), 1952].
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Robin Adeney and The Dorset Historic Churches Trust [www.dorsethistoricchurchestrust.co.uk], for the photograph of this font

COORDINATES

UTM: 30U 514122 5629906
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 50.8207, -2.79952
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 50° 49′ 14.52″ N, 2° 47′ 58.27″ W

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, limestone (Purbeck marble)
Font Shape: square, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: square

LID INFORMATION

Date: modern
Material: wood
Apparatus: no
Notes: [cf. FontNotes]

REFERENCES

  • Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 197
  • Hutchins, John, The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset, Wakefield: E.P. Pub. Ltd., 1973, vol. 2: 330
  • Leach, Rosemary, A Investigation into the use of Purbeck Marble in Medieval England, Hartlepool: E.W. Harrisons & Sons, 1975, p. 70
  • Long, E.T., "Dorset church fonts", 44, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, 1923, pp. 62-76; p. 75
  • Mee, Arthur, The King's England. Dorset: Thomas Hardy's Country, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1939, p. 44
  • Pevsner, Nikolaus, Dorset, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972, p. 116
  • Pulman, George P.R., The Book of the Axe: containing a piscatorial description of the stream, and a history of all the parishes and remarkable spots upon its banks […], London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1854, p. 83 / [http://books.google.ca/books?id=7vcGAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA256&lpg=PA256&dq=hawkchurch+church&source=bl&ots=TjjxLXpAV-&sig=_dtNZhp4BN5ikgeudqfOs24TWIU&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPR1,M1] [accessed 3 February 2009]