Canterbury No. 9

Results: 2 records

INFORMATION

Font ID: 06878CAN
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Date: ca. 1420?
Font Century and Period/Style: 15th century (early?), Perpendicular
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Mildred
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Mildrith [aka Mildred, Mildþrȳð, Mildryth, Mildthryth]
Site Location: Kent, South East, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located on Church Lane, Canterbury
Additional Comments: painted font -- painted ca. 1800? (reported as bieng covered in oil paint in May 1860] -- emailed the parish curated on 22 march 2009 asking for photos//mt -- disappeared font?
Font Notes:
Noted in a letter to the editor of The Gentleman's Magazine (issue of May 1860: 495): "The font is a gem of art; it is of Bethersden marble and Kentish rag, elaborately carved in Gothic panels, and ornamented with roses and I. D. S. [?] alternately. Some fifty years since it was defaced by several coats of oil paint, by one of my predecessors in office, but this I hope soon to remove, and to restore the font to its original beauty." [the letter is signed: "William Welby, Churchwarden of St. Mildred, Canterbury"]. Noted in Wilson's Gazetteer of 1870-1872, without details. Noted in Glynne (1877). Font and cover are reported in Cross & Hall (1882): "Another genuine relic of old wood carving is the font-cover. The stone font is octagonal, each panel bearing a quatrefoil." Noted in Cox (1905): "The octagon font has a low crocketed cover with pulley." Described in Cox & Harvey (1907): "the octagonal 15th-cent. font of St. Mildred, Canterbury, is of Bethenden [Bethersden?] marble, and has roses and the monogram I.H.C. on alternate panels". Newman (1976) is not fully convinced of this font's pedigree: "Font. Perp[endicular}. Or is it Victorian?" [NB: perhaps Mr. Welby, churchwarden in 1860, did manage to scrape the paint off the font and left it looking too fresh for Newman's eye]. The Parish web page [http://www.stpeters-stmildreds.org.uk/churches/st-mildreds-thebuilding.htm] [accessed 22 March 2009] notes: "The font dates from 1420 and is one of the few surviving complete with the original cover and counter balance lifting system." [NB: the fabric of this building is said to go back to pre-Conquest times, but we have no information on the earlier font(s) of this church]

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, marble (Bethersden)
Font Shape: octagonal, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal

INSCRIPTION

Inscription Language: Latin
Inscription Location: on four panels of the basin
Inscription Text: "I.H.C." (?) "I.D.S." (?)
Inscription Notes: on alternate panels of the octagonal basin [cf. FontNotes]
Inscription Source: [cf. FontNotes]

LID INFORMATION

Date: 15th-century? / Perpendicular?
Material: wood
Apparatus: yes [cf. FontNotes]
Notes: [cf. FontNotes]

REFERENCES

  • Cox, John Charles, Canterbury, a historical and topographical account of the city, London: Methuen, 1905, p. 259
  • Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 204
  • Cross, Francis W., Rambles round Old Canterbury, London; Canterbury: Simpkin, Marshall & Co.; Cross & Jackman and Hal Drury, 1882, p. 67 / [http://www.archive.org/stream/ramblesroundoldc00crosrich/ramblesroundoldc00crosrich_djvu.txt] [accessed 22 March 2009]
  • Glynne, Steven Richard, Sir, Notes on the churches of Kent, London: John Murray, 1877, p. 20
  • Newman, John, North East and East Kent, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1976, p. 241
  • Wilson, John Marius, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales: embracing recent changes in counties, dioceses, parishes, and boroughs [...], Edinburgh: A. Fullarton & Co., 1870-1872, [cited in http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/descriptions/entry_page.jsp?text_id=842560&word=NULL [accessed 22 March 2009]]