Hallaton / Aletone

Image and permission received (e-mail of 28 September 2006)

Results: 14 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

BH01: head - grotesque or fantastic

Scene Description: with striped hair lines, pronounced eyebrows and feline lower face

Image Source: digital photograph by Denis Kenyon

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 28 September 2006)

BH02: human figure - grotesque or fantastic? - head

Scene Description: with wavy hair, pronounced eyebrows and protruding round eyes

Image Source: digital photograph by Denis Kenyon

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 28 September 2006)

BH03: human figure - head - negroid features

Scene Description: with curly hair, almond-shaped eyes and puffy lips

Image Source: digital photograph by Denis Kenyon

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 28 September 2006)

BH04: head - grotesque or fantastic

Scene Description: the oddest-looking of the four, bulging deep-set eyes, lower face made of two thick circular plates -

Image Source: digital photograph by Denis Kenyon

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 28 September 2006)

design element - architectural - column - 4

Scene Description: one at each angle, topped with a head [cf. Font notes]

Image Source: digital photograph by Denis Kenyon

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 28 September 2006)

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: detail of head #1: grotesque Darth Vader-like head

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph by Denis Kenyon

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 28 September 2006)

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: detail of head #2

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph by Denis Kenyon

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 28 September 2006)

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: detail of head #3: this is the only one set on a platform

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph by Denis Kenyon

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 28 September 2006)

view of basin - detail

Scene Description: detail of head #4

Image Source: detail of a digital photograph by Denis Kenyon

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 28 September 2006)

view of church exterior - southeast view

Scene Description: EXT SE digital photograph taken 18 January 2014 by RobinLeicester [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hallaton_St_Michael,_Jan_2014.JPG] [accessed 12 August 2015] CC-BY-SA-3.0 IOTHERS digital photograph taken by Christopher Jones [www.leicestershirechurches.co.uk/hallaton-church-st-michael-all-angels/] [accessed 12 August 2015]

Image Source: digital photograph taken 18 January 2014 by RobinLeicester [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hallaton_St_Michael,_Jan_2014.JPG] [accessed 12 August 2015]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of church interior - nave - looking southwest

Scene Description: the font is partially visible in the south aisle, near the south entranceway

Image Source: digital photograph taken by Christopher Jones [www.leicestershirechurches.co.uk/hallaton-church-st-michael-all-angels/] [accessed 12 August 2015]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church interior - nave - looking west

Image Source: digital photograph taken by Christopher Jones [www.leicestershirechurches.co.uk/hallaton-church-st-michael-all-angels/] [accessed 12 August 2015]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font

Image Source: digital photograph by Denis Kenyon

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (e-mail of 28 September 2006)

view of font and cover in context

Image Source: digital photograph taken by Christopher Jones [www.leicestershirechurches.co.uk/hallaton-church-st-michael-all-angels/] [accessed 12 August 2015]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

INFORMATION

FontID: 06978HAL

Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Michael & All Angels

Church Patron Saints: St. Michael & All Angels

Church Location: Eastgates, Hallaton, Leicestershire LE16 8TY

Country Name: England

Location: Leicestershire, East Midlands

Directions to Site: Located 12 km NW of Corby, about the same distance ENE of Market Harborough, 25 km ESE of Leicester

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Leicester

Historical Region: Hundred of Gartree

Font Location in Church: Inside the church

Century and Period: 13th century [basin only] [composite font], Medieval [composite]

Cognate Fonts: Thurlby, Thurlby [cf. FontNotes]

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Christopher Jones, of Leicestershire Churches [www.leicestershirechurches.co.uk], and to Denis Kenyon, for their photographs of this church and font. We are also grateful to Pol Herman for his help documentings this font

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

There is an entry for Hallaton [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SP7896/hallaton/] [accessed 12 August 2015], but there is no mention of cleric or church in it. A font here is noted and illustrated in Upcott (1818). Reported in Lewis' Dictionary of 1848: "ancient square font, supported by columns ornamented with grotesque heads." Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Early English period. The Victoria County History (Leicestershire, vol. 5, 1964) notes: "The church of Hallaton is first mentioned early in the 12th century [...] The oldest part of the building dates from the late 12th century, but a preConquest coffin lid carved with interlacing ornament was recovered from the churchyard in the 19th century and is preserved inside the church. Built into the wall of the north porch is a semi-circular Norman tympanum, having a representation of St. Michael and the dragon carved in low relief. The circular font bowl, round which are four shafts terminating in carved heads, may also be of Norman origin. [...] In 1758 the churchwardens provided a new font cover [fn: 'Curchwardens' Accts. among par. recs.'] probably the existing one of inlaid oak". In Pevsner (1984): "Circular, E[arly] E[nglish], drum-shaped, with four short shafts ending in heads." The four heads are very different from each other: 1)grotesque, with a lower feline part; 2)human, but with very large round eyes; 3)human, with negroid features; 4)totally grotesque. A communication to BSI from Pol Herman (e-mail of 29 September 2023) notes the cognate fonts of Hallaton and Thurlby in the UK with the one at Jumet in Belgium

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 52.560938, -0.841157

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 52° 33′ 39.38″ N, 0° 50′ 28.16″ W

UTM: 30U 646337 5825620

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone

Font Shape: round (mounted) (with corner heads)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: round (with corner heads)

REFERENCES

Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. Accessed: 2006-09-21 00:00:00. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.

Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907

Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England, Comprising the Several Counties, Cities, Boroughs, Corporate and Market Towns, Parishes, Chapelries, and Townships, and the Islands of Guernsy, Jersey, and Man, with Historical and Statistical Descriptions [...], London: S. Lewis, 1831

Pevsner, Nikolaus, Leicestershire and Rutland, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1984

Upcott, William, A bibliographical account of the principal works relating to English topography, London: Printed by Richard and Arthur Taylor, 1818