Caldecote nr. Letchworth / Calcott / Caldecota / Caldecott / Chaldecote

Image copyright © John Salmon, 2011

CC-BY-SA-2.0

Results: 12 records

design element - motifs - floral and foliage

Scene Description: [cf. Font notes]

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Salmon, 2011

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 21 June 2011 by John Salmon [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2474302] [accessed 19 October 2016]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

design element - motifs - moulding

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Salmon, 2011

Image Source: digital photograph taken 21 June 2011 by John Salmon [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2474302] [accessed 19 October 2016]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

design element - motifs - moulding and piping

Scene Description: framing the panels of the underbowl and base; at the lower end they have moulded bases -some damaged- as if they were columns resting on them

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Salmon, 2011

Image Source: digital photograph taken 21 June 2011 by John Salmon [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2474302] [accessed 19 October 2016]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

design element - patterns - tracery - varied

Scene Description: each panel of the basement has a different example (quatrefoil, cusped quatrefoil, etc.); three of them visible here

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Salmon, 2011

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 21 June 2011 by John Salmon [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2474302] [accessed 19 October 2016]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

symbol - shield - cross

Scene Description: on the north side [cf. Font notes]

symbol - shield - emblem - Christ - the instruments of the Passion

Scene Description: on the west side of the basin [cf. Font notes]

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Salmon, 2011

Image Source: edited detail of a digital photograph taken 21 June 2011 by John Salmon [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2474302] [accessed 19 October 2016]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

symbol - shield - emblem - saltire

Scene Description: on the east side [cf. Font notes]

view of church exterior - northwest view

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Salmon, 2011

Image Source: digital photograph taken 21 June 2011 by John Salmon [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2474291] [accessed 19 October 2016]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of church exterior - southwest view

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Salmon, 2011

Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 August 2004 by John Salmon [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/358916] [accessed 19 October 2016]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of church interior - nave - looking east

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Salmon, 2011

Image Source: digital photograph taken 21 June 2011 by John Salmon [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2474295] [accessed 19 October 2016]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of church interior - nave - looking west

Scene Description: the font at the far [west] end of the nave

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Salmon, 2011

Image Source: digital photograph taken 21 June 2011 by John Salmon [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2474310] [accessed 19 October 2016]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of font - west side

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Salmon, 2011

Image Source: digital photograph taken 21 June 2011 by John Salmon [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2474302] [accessed 19 October 2016]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

INFORMATION

FontID: 08781CAL
Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene [redundant]
Church Patron Saints: St. Mary Magdalene
Church Location: Caldecote, Hertfordshire SG7 5LD
Country Name: England
Location: Hertfordshire, East
Directions to Site: Located just E of the A1, about 4-5 km NW of Letchworth, about 5 km NNE of Baldock
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of St. Albans
Historical Region: Hundred of Odsey -- formerly Essex
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Century and Period: 14th - 15th century, Perpendicular
Workshop/Group/Artisan: heraldic font
There is an entry for this Caldecote [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TL2338/caldecote/] [accessed 19 October 2016]; it mentions a priest but not a church in it, though there probably was one there. Cox & Harvey (1907) describe "an exceptionally large and ornate canopy over the stoup, about 6 feet high. It appears to be of the reign of Richard II" [i.e., 1377-1399]. Noted in the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, Hertforshire (1911): "Font: octagonal, 15th-century, ornamented with traceried panels and shields bearing the heraldry of the Passion." The Victoria County History (Hertfordshire, vol. 3, 1912) notes: "In 1086 the nine villeins of Caldecote with one priest had a plough and a half. [...] The advowson was probably attached to the manor from the first [...] The whole of the [presednt] building belongs to the middle of the 15th century, with later repairs. [...] The chancel is of the same width as the nave, and there is no chancel arch; the old screen was demolished before the middle of the 19th century. [...] The font is octagonal, of 15th-century date. The sides of the basin are decorated with traceried panels. Underneath are shields facing the four cardinal points; that on the east bears a saltire, that on the north a cross, that on the west the instruments of the Passion, and that on the south three crowns." Tompkins (1922) mentions "a font dating from, say, 1480", and "a very finely canopied holy water basin". There is no mention of the latter in Pevsner & Cherry (1977): "Font: Perp[endicular], unusually rich, octagonal, with traceried and cusped panels and shields and foliage under the bowl." [NB: the RCHM (1911) reports also a holy-water stoup: "in the porch, of rough design, under a richly crocketed, spire-shaped canopy, much defaced, not in situ" -- no separate entry in this Index]

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 52.03077, -0.19886
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 52° 1′ 50.77″ N, 0° 11′ 55.9″ W
UTM: 30U 692149 5768165

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone
Font Shape: octagonal (mounted)
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal
Drainage Notes: lead-lined

LID INFORMATION

Date: 14th century (late) Gothic
Notes: a canopy, rather than a lid, is reported in 1922, but now [2011] not present in the church

REFERENCES

Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. Accessed: 2007-01-10 00:00:00. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.
Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907
Great Britain. Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Hertfordshire, London: Printed for His Majesty's Stationary Office by J. Truscott, 1911
Pevsner, Nikolaus, Hertfordshire, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1977
Tompkins, Herbert Winckworth, Hertfordshire, London: Methuen & Co., 1922