Sydling St. Nicholas No. 1

Baptismal font of an early period, though how early varies according to the source: the earlier estimates make it Anglo-Saxon about 1000 years old; others make it Norman, probably 12th century. Listed in Long (1923) as a baptismal font of the Norman period. Mee (1939) writes of two fonts under the tower arch: "Only the worn bowl of one remains; the crudely-cut font now used was used in Norman England, and perhaps in Saxon days." The RCHM (1952) suggests a 12th-century dating. In Newman & Pevsner (1972): "Font. Round, C12, with two moulded bands and between them short narrow and wide flutes." A church leaflet report the belief that this font it was made from an early Roman capital. Hutchins (1861-1873) described the font in this church thus: "large octagonal stone, resting upon a neat foot or pedestal; the whole perfectly plain and unadorned". [NB: as Duke [cf. infra] points out, this would indicate that the font now being used for baptisms in this church was introduced late in the 19th century, after Hutchins' visits -- the font described in Hutchin is a second font, no longer in use, the basin of which is still kept in the church [cf. Images area]]. Described and illustrated in Geral Duke [www.martinstown.co.uk]. The font consists of two volumes: the basin is roughly cylindrical with a slightly rounded underbowl; there is a protruding moulding below the upper rim with low-relief pattern ornamentation; the sides of the basin are decorated with low-relief ribbed pattern; the base is a polygonal pedestal, perhaps dodecagonal and splays slightly at the bottom, where a pronounced moulding joins it to the square plinth. The inner well of the basin is lined with lead, and the lining wraps around th upper rim. Images of this font are also available at 1) www.sydlingstnicholas.org.uk and 2) the web site of The Dorset Historic Churches Trust, at www.dorsethistoricchurchestrust.co.uk/sydling_st.htm]. [cf. Index entry for Sydling St. Nicholas No. 2 for a second basin no longer in use]