Claverley No. 2 / Claverlege / Claverly

There is an entry for Claverley [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SO7993/claverley/] [accessed 4 March 2015], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Interestingly, the detailed description of this church and its contents in the letter from D. Parkes to the editor of The Gentleman's Magazine (issue of December 1822: 489-491) mentions neither of the two baptismal fonts inside this church. Noted and illustrated in Eyton (1856- ) and in Anderson (1864), engraving from a drawing by Rev. J. Brookes, del. A report of an excursion of the members of the Association (The Journal of the British Archaeological Association (vol. 29, 1973: 227ff) includes a strong recommendation by the leader of the excursion, Mr. Roberts: "the removal of the paint, and the whitewash both here and from the font which had been painted so as to make what was really a mixture of stone and plaster appear if possible like grey marble". Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Norman period. Noted in Newman & Pevsner (2006): "Font. Norman, of tub-shape with arcading on prettily patterned colonnettes. Leaf-work in the spandrels." Noted and illustrated in the CRSBI (2015) with date in the 12th century: "An elaborate tub-shaped, limestone bowl set on a later octagonal base. The bowl is decorated in relief with an arcade of 14 bays, the fictive columns of a wide variety of designs including spiral, cable, chevron, billet and rows of flat leaves. The capitals are cuboid blocks and the arches of the arcade are round and plain. The arch spandrels are decorated with linked, inverted palmettes or upright palmettes. The shaft bases are tall with a concave profile on drum plinths, and below the arcading a row of nailhead encircles the bowl. [...] The spandrels above the arcades are decorated with palmettes turned upside down. Between the palmettes are trapezoid or rectangular shapes, usually plain but sometimes decorated with two horizontal lines or a row of beads arranged horizontally. On the N and W aspects of the font the top ends of the palmettes and geometric shapes are linked by miniature semicircular arches. On the S and E aspects the palmettes face upwards and are less fleshy; the arcade motif is missing. Instead, situated atop two of the arches are two attenuated leaves pointing upwards. The capitals of the arcade are plain, the columns ornate. They are decorated with a spiral motif or billet, arranged either horizonatally or vertically; an ornament resembling a strand of plaited hair; a series of convex rings; or, on one column, bead ornament. The plaited design moves either in a downward or upward direction. Below the arcade is a horizontal row of beads. Octagonal base, medieval but probably post-dating the font. Red sandsone, weathered. The rim of the font on the west aspect is damaged and patched with clay." [cf. Index entry for the font at Alphington, Devon, for a font of similar general appearance and design] [cf. Index entry for Claverley No. 1 for an earlier font in this church]