Matterdale

INFORMATION

FontID: 09203MAT
Church/Chapel: Parish Church [formerly a chapel]
Church Patron Saints: [never dedicated?]
Country Name: England
Location: Cumbria, North West
Directions to Site: Located 5 km S of Troutbeck, diocese of Carlisle
Historical Region: formerly Cumberland
Font Location in Church: Reported in 1894 in Matterdale Parish Church
Century and Period: 12th - 16th century, Medieval
Reported in Kelly's Directory of Cumberland of 1894 as an ancient baptismal font originally from the Greystoke church [source: groups.msn.com/MatterdaleMatters/1894kellys.msnw]. Cox (1813) writes of the misadventures of this font: "Plain octagonal font, ejected from Greystock church in 1703, afterwards served as a cheese-press at Dockray, then inverted and used as a sundial in this churchyard, recently restored to its sacred use, in succession to a mere pedestal quasi-font." The WestGallery web site [www.westgallerychurches.com/gallery.html] quotes Arthur Mee on the position of the font "stands in an old square singing seat" [i.e., Arthur Mee (1875-1943)]. The Visit Cumbria website [http://www.visitcumbria.com/pen/chp9.htm] [accessed 31 January 2010] notes: "There are two fonts, the older in use from the 17th Century until 1881, when a larger one from Greystoke was brought into use. The older one is now turned upside down and used as a sundial."

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

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

REFERENCES

Cox, John Charles, Cumberland and Westmorland, London: George Allen & Co. Ltd., 1913