Shopland

Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a noteworthy baptismal font of the Early English period. Described as noteworthy, and with an illustration, in the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (Essex, 1916-1923): "Font: [...] square bowl, S. face with interlacing arcade of round arches resting on shafts with moulded capitals and 'hold water' bases; W. face with three trefoiled arches with flattened shafts having similar capitals and bases, roses in the spandrels and fleur-de-lis cusp-points to the middle bay; E. and N. faces each with three large incised fleurs-de-lis and two formy crosses in circles, stem consists of a middle and four side shafts with moulded caps and bases, early 13th-century." In Pevsner (1976): "Font. From St. Mary, Shopland. Early C13. Square bowl on five supports. Decoration on one side with interleaved arches, on another with trefoiled arches, on the other two with fleurs-de-lis and crosses in niches." The entry for Canewdon in Bettley & Pevsner (2007) notes that the font is from the demolished [1957] church of St. Mary Magdalene in Shopland. [NB: an entry in www.essexchurches.com shows a 1999 photograph by Stephen Parker of the churchyard with this caption: "Regrettably St Mary's at Shopland has been demolished and all that is left is the graveyard"]. According to another source [www.fortunecity.com] the font was then moved to the church of St. Nicholas at Canewdon where it now serves as the parish baptismal font.