Middleton nr. Leiston

Results: 4 records

INFORMATION

Font ID: 07396MID
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 15th century, Perpendicular
Workshop/Group/Artisan: East Anglia font / Evangelists' font
Cognate Fonts: Chediston, Halesworth and Wissett, in the same area.
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of the Holy Trinity
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Church Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17546019
Church Patron Saint(s): The Holy Trinity
Site Location: Suffolk, East Anglia, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located off the B1122, just E of the A12, 7-8 km NW of Leiston
Font Notes:
Parker (1855) mentions an octagonal Perpendicular font "with emblems of the Evangelists". Described in Cox & Harvey (1907) as one of a group of East Anglian baptismal fonts in which "is the occurrence of alternate erect lions and wild hairy men (termed 'woodhouses') round the octagon shaft of the base". C&H mention Chediston, Halesworth, Middleton, Theberton and Wissett, all in the Hundred of Blything. This same source identifies the Evangelists' symbols alternating with angels around the sides of the basin and, around the plinth, "a much-worn black-letter inscription. Recent careful rubbings have resulted in bringing to light an interesting English distich -- 'Crystr mote us spede / And helpe alle at nede.'" Listed in Cautley (1982) as 15th-century font bearing an inscription: 'Cryst mote us spede / And helpe alle at nede'".

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone
Font Shape: octagonal, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal

INSCRIPTION

Inscription Language: English
Inscription Location: on the plinth
Inscription Text: "Cryst mote us spede / And helpe alle at nede"
Inscription Notes: In very worn black-lettering
Inscription Source: Cox & Harvey (1907) and Cautley (1982)

REFERENCES

  • Cautley, Henry Munro, Suffolk churches and their treasures, Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1982, p. 68
  • Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 182, 219
  • Parker, John Henry, The Ecclesiastical and architectural topography of England [...] Suffolk, 1855, [unpaged]