Maiden Bradley

No entry found for Maiden Bradley in the Domesday survey. Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Norman period. Noted in Holmes (1922): "a fine Norman font of Purbeck marble". Noted in Buck (1951) as one in a group of Norman square fonts dating between 1130 and 1200, including those at North Tidworth, Codford St. Peter, Ebbesbourne Wake, Steeple Langford, Amesbury, Maiden Bradley, Downton and Dinton. Noted in Pevsner & Cherry (1975. "Font. Square, of Purbeck marble, of the usual type with very flat blank arches. The arches are mostly worn away. Font cover. Jacobean, simple, of light volutes." Noted and illustrated in Jim Downes' web page on the history od Maiden Bradley [www.btinternet.com/~JIM.DOWNES1/history-church.htm], with date of ca. 1200; this source suggests that it would have replaced an earlier font, since a church has been known to exist on this site before 1066. The basin is roughly square, with slightly tapering sides; it is raised on a broad central column and four slender colonnettes; quadrangular lower base and plinth. The cover appears Jacobean and may be the work of the 17th-century carver who made the pulpit and pews. Noted in Leach (1975) as a font made of Purbeck marble; no details [source given: Professor E.M. Jope]. The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: ST8036238658] notes: "Anglican parish church. C12, early C14, C15, 1845 restoration [...] Square C12 Purbeck marble font bowl on central pier with four smaller shafts to corners, good C17 cover."