Winterbourne Monkton

Buck (1950) classes this font in a Wiltshire group [Ditteridge, Biddestone, Tytherton Lucas, Staton St. Quintin, Winterbourne Monkton and Donhead St. Mary] defined as 'unmounted circular tub fonts' from the 'Middle Norman' period of ca. 1100-1150: "Another small font, c. 1150 [...] In this case, also, the rim has been cut down and it has been replaced by an inapprpriate later one 5 inches deep, and the font has been raised on a three-tier base, 20 inches high." In his description of the decoration, Buck (ibid.) notes "the figure of a man" on the north side. Noted in Pevsner & Cherry (1975): "Font. Circular, Norman, with decorated trumpet scallops and zigzag." The Victoria County History (Wiltshire, vol. 12, 1983) notes: "Before 1229 the church of Winterbourne Monkton was appropriated by Cirencester abbey and a vicarage ordained. [...] The bowl of the font is of the late 12th century". The Dorset OPC site reports a: "Figure of a naked woman giving birth to vegetation on the 12th century font of the church at Winterbourne Monkton". "The font inside the church has a mutilated carving upon it of a Celtic figurine, Sheela Na Gig" [www.thenewinn.net/Area.htm]. The font has a monolithic basin that is cylindrical on the upper half and then tapers off to a double roll moulding, forming a virtual underbowl by the tapering; the base is also cylindrical, of three volumes, the larger at the bottom, all plain;it stands on a small octagonal plinth with kneeling stone extension. The wooden font cover is flat and plain, round; probably modern. The decoration of the basin sides consists of a broad band of nested chevrons, with foliage or palmettes in the triangular spandrels of the chevrons; the cylindrical upper half of the basin ends in a row of scalloped motif, the scallops inscribed with foliage motifs; the scallops project downwards with the tapering of the lower half of the basin creating a ribbed-pattern effect; the lower end of the basin is finished with two roll mouldings; the upper rim is also moulded, but this part may have been re-tooled or repaired recently. The most striking element of the decoration is the humanoid (?) figure carved in the pattern of the nested chevron, a figure which resembles a Sheila-na-gig; some of the inner hollows of the underbowl pattern are decorated with nail-head pattern.