Oare nr. Feversham / Hoare

Described in Glynne (1877): "The font is large and Norman: a square marble bowl on cylindrical stem surrounded by four legs on square bases, but with no capitals." Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Norman period. Bond (1908) mentions a thirteenth century font with wooden legs at Hoare, Kent. [probably meant for "Oare"]. The wooden legs seen by Bond were later replaced, probably in the 19th-century renovation of the church, as noted in Newman (1976): "Font. Large. Norman, of Purbeck marble, but now too worn to be enjoyable. The five shafts all new. Square bowl, with tiny heads supporting the angles." Noted and illustrated in the Faversham website: [http://www.faversham.org/pages/standard.aspx?i_PageID=11108] [accessed 10 February 2010]: "square font of Purbeck marble from the late Norman/Early English period. Its sides were once elaborately carved, but many years ago it went missing, only to be recovered decades later from a nearby pond, somewhat the worse for its immersion. Was it concealed from Cromwell’s ravaging iconoclasts?"