North Stoke nr. Bath

Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Decorated period. Wade & Wade (1929) report "a very massive rectangular font, said to be Saxon; note the roughly carved heads at the corners." Noted in the church guide book by Victoria Finlay and Martin Palmer (2nd ed., 2007), which favours the theory that this object was originally a sacrificial table carved in Roman times, and that the heads may have been carved as part of the Celtic associations with holy wells and springs. This same source suggests that the fourth head "was filed down, perhpas so the remaining three could represent the Trinity". Noted in the Benefice website [www.allsaintsonline.org.uk] [accessed 20 February 2008]: "The font is extremely plain and early decorated, square in shape with chamfered edges, and is similar to the one in Saltford church" [NB: this last comparison is an odd one, as the font at Saltford is round and has heads below the centre ring -- have written to the local source for clarification -- 20 February 2008]. Not mentioned in Pevsner (1958).