Stalbridge

Noted in the 3rd ed. of Hutchins (1973 c1861-1874): "The font has a large and massive circular basin, quite plain, on a round pedestal, which appears to have been the base of a column." Listed in Long (1923) as a baptismal font of the Norman period. Noted in Mee (1939) simply as "a plain old font." "A 13th-century font sited by the south door. Carved from local greensand, the plain round bowl sits on a simple Ham Hill stone drum column and is set on a modern plinth. The wooden font cover is very unusual and takes the form of a miniature church. A local man, William Brown, who was not a trained carpenter but had a natural talent and aptitude for woodworking, carved it in 1904. The cost of the work was £2, which was willed by a local schoolteacher 'to be expended in some church object'." [source: Lilian Ladle and Ken Ayres, in Dorset Life: the Dorset Magazine [on-line at www. dorsetlife.co.uk]]. The illustration of the font shows a plain hemispherical basin lined with lead and raised on a cylindrical base ornamented with roll mouldings at the top. The font cover is somewhat similar to a couple of early medieval covers found on Gotland, Sweden. [We are grateful to Dorset Life: the Dorset Magazine [on-line at www. dorsetlife.co.uk] for the image of this font]