Monkton Farleigh / Monckton Farleigh / Monckton Farley / Monkton Fairleigh / Monkton Farley

A letter from G.J. De Wilde to the editor of The Gentleman's Magazine (issue of October 1854, p. 364) notes: "The font stands at the west end of the church: it is tub-shaped, with flutes half-way down, terminating in scallops: a row of scallops also runs round the bottom". A norman font is noted also in Lewis (1876). The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine (vol. XX (1882): 191, 195) includes notes from a visit to this parish by Sir Charles Hobhouse, in which he states that, although the church was re-built in 1844, "the tower, the entrance porch, and the font, are parts of the old structure"; in this source the font is located "in the nave", without further details.. Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Norman period. [NB: C&H use the form "Monckton Farley" and list it under Somerset; Monkton Farleigh is now in Wiltshire, just across from the county line with Somerset]. The Victoria County History (Wiltshire, vol. 7, 1953) notes on the church: "The earliest part is the late-12th-century north door, which is round-headed and decorated with zigzag moulding. The inner order of the arch has been cut away, probably in 1874", but does not mention a font in it. The British Listed Buildings database [www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-314585-church-of-st-peter-monkton-farleigh] [accessed 19 January 2012] entry for this church reports only an "octagonal C19 stone font with painted floral decoration and carved rosettes" in this church, without mention of the earlier font.