West Stafford / Stafford West

Main image for West Stafford / Stafford West

Image copyright © Gerald Duke, 2008

Standing permission

Results: 9 records

view of font - front side

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Gerald Duke, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph in Gerald Duke [www.martinstown.co.uk]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font - right side

Scene Description: showing the damage where the cover staple was removed
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Gerald Duke, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph in Gerald Duke [www.martinstown.co.uk]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font and cover

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Gerald Duke, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph in Gerald Duke [www.martinstown.co.uk]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church exterior - south door

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Gerald Duke, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph in Gerald Duke [www.martinstown.co.uk]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church exterior - southwest view

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Gerald Duke, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph in Gerald Duke [www.martinstown.co.uk]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church exterior - south view

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Gerald Duke, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph in Gerald Duke [www.martinstown.co.uk]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church interior - looking west

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Gerald Duke, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph in Gerald Duke [www.martinstown.co.uk]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font cover

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Gerald Duke, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph in Gerald Duke [www.martinstown.co.uk]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font - plan, elevation, section and sketch

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Gerald Duke, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph in Gerald Duke [www.martinstown.co.uk]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

INFORMATION

Font ID: 06675STA
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 13th - 14th century, Decorated
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Andrew
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, in the W end S side, by the entrance
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Andrew
Church Notes: A suggestion is made in several web sources that the church at West Stafford is the likely marriage place of Tess and Angel Clare in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urberville's.
Site Location: Dorset, South West, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located in the Frome valley, just E of Dorchester
Additional Comments: altered font? [cf. FontNotes]
Font Notes:
Noted in Barnes (1891): "Font: ancient, possibly 14th century. Looks as if an intermediate member, octagonal in form, had been removed from between the basin and base." Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Decorated period. Noted in Long (1923) as one of about half-dozen known examples belonging to the Decorated [or 'Second Pointed'] period in Dorset [NB: these include: Hampreston, Nether Compton, West Stafford and Winterborne Compton, as well as the basin of Durweston and, perhaps, Woolland]; this font, adds Long (ibid.), is "devoid of all ornament". Illustrated in The Dorset Historic Churches Trust [http://dorsethistoricchurchestrust.co.uk]. Described and fully illustrated in Gerald Duke [www.martinstown.co.uk]. [We are grateful to Gerald Duke, of www.martinstown.co.uk, for the information on, and photographs of this font and church]
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Gerald Duke, of www.martinstown.co.uk, and to Robin Adeney and The Dorset Historic Churches Trust [www.dorsethistoricchurchestrust.co.uk], for the photograph of this font

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone
Font Shape: octagonal, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal
Drainage System: centre hole in basin
Rim Thickness: 7 cm*
Diameter (inside rim): 53 cm*
Diameter (includes rim): 67 cm*
Basin Depth: 28 cm*
Basin Total Height: 35 cm*
Height of Base: 49 cm*
Font Height (less Plinth): 84 cm*
Notes on Measurements: * [all measurements courtesy of Gerald Duke [www.martinstown.co.uk]]

LID INFORMATION

Date: 17th century?
Material: wood, oak
Apparatus: no
Notes: pyramidal octagonal, with crocketed arrises and finial

REFERENCES

  • Barnes, W. Miles, "A brief historical & descriptive sketch of the churches in the rural deanery of Dorchester (Dorchester portion)", XII, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1891, pp. [36]-70; p. 57
  • Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 198
  • Great Britain. Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, Royal Commission on Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, London: H.M. Stationary Office, 1970, vol. 2, pt. 2: 264-265
  • Long, E.T., "Dorset church fonts", 44, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, 1923, pp. 62-76; p. 70, 76