West Parley

Noted in the 3rd ed. of Hutchins (1973 c1861-1874): "The font has a plain octagonal bowl, supported by a stem which is ornamented with an irregular arcade of semicircular arches, rising from plain columns and imposts." Long (1923) writes: "At West Parley there is a plain octagonal bowl, which is probably Early English, with an undoubted Norman shaft, ornamented with an irregular arcade or round arches." Mee (1939), however, suggests that "the man who carved the arches round the old font lived either in Saxon days or very soon after the Conquest". Mee (ibid.) adds: "In the days when Englishmen were fighting against Joan of Arc someone hewed a new top and set on the old font." [NB: the time period is ca. 1430; it is not clear from Mee's prose whether he was noting the font cover he saw or one that existed before his visit]. In Newman & Pevsner (1972): "Font The stem was, it seems, a separate Norman font. It has arches as decoration." The Dorset Historic Churches Trust [www.dorsethistoricchurchestrust.co.uk/west_parley.htm] claims the original church and font were Saxon [10th century], and that, "two hundred years later the Normans rebuilt the church and placed a new stone basin on the old font". 'A Brief History of the Church' reads as follows: "Facing as you enter the church is the font still, perhaps, in its original position [...]. It is really two fonts one above the other. The upper font is plain and hexagonal and circa AD 1400. The lower one, ornamented by a carved and raised design of arches and pilasters is mid 12th century." [source: "taken from a booklet prepared by Mavis Brookes, sometime churchwarden, and published in 1998" -- www.stmarkswestparley.org/AllSaints/allsaintshisto...]. Unfortunately neither of the above sources proves reliable since the later basin is likely 14th-15th century and clearly octagonal, as can be seen in The Dorset Historic Churches Trust illustration of the font. The local guide's dating matches the characteristics of this font, both for basin and base, and if there was a Saxon church in West Parley, and it had a font, the latter did not survive. The cover on the font is flat and octagonal, modern, with metal reinforcements.