Marske-on-Swale / Marsk / Marske-in-Swaledale / Marske nr Grinton / Mersc / Merske

No entry found for this Marske in the Domesday survey. The font is illustrated in Whitaker (1823). Glynne's 17 April 1869 visit to this church (in Butler, 2007) reports: "The font bears the date 1605, and, as may be expected, has a debased character; in form octagonal, with coarse sculpture" [NB: Glynne's notes are annotated by Butler (bid.) in a footnote: "The font bears the date 1663 and the initials TH.M may be for Thomas Hutton, Minister (1661-1694), or perhaps for Timothy Hutton and his wife Margaret (née Bennet). On a loose sheet at p. 14 of vol. 88 is the note: 'Marsk Font 8gl [octagonal]. Several lines of Early English tooth[ing]; Arms and heraldic devices, scroll[in]g; On fluted stem -- base has lozengy'". Described in Bulmer's Directory of 1890: "The font bears the date 1663, with the initials TMH [in a triangular arrangement, the M at bottom], probably those of Timothy Hutton, a merchant of Leeds, who married Margaret, daughter of Sir John Bennet". Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Restoration period dated to 1663 by an inscription. The entry for this Marske parish in the Victoria County History (York North Riding, vol. 1, 1914) notes: "church of ST. EDMUND KING AND MARTYR [...] Part of the nave is of the 12th century, but large alterations were made in 1683, and the chancel was entirely rebuilt in the early part of last century. [...] The font has a tapering octagonal bowl on a fluted circular shaft resting on a large square base. On four of the faces are rough carvings, a cross and a lily, a cross with a paten (?), the date 1663, and the initials [T H M]; the other sides are blank." Morris (1931) notes: "Very curious font, 'of rude and coarse workmanship', dated 1663, and with initials T. H. M. This was the gift of Timothy Hutton, whose wife was Margaret." Pevsner (1985) notes: "Font. 1663. Octagonal with tapered sides, dogtooth at the angles, but otherwise the kind of elementary ornamental motifs typical of fonts of those years." The Historic Churches Preservation Trust, however, states that "the font is dated 1633" [source: 'Recent Grants' issue of the Grants Cttee. Meeting of 22 June 2004, www.historicchurches.org.uk]. The font consists of a basin shaped like an inverted octagonal pyramid, all arrises and borders done in exagerated dog-tooth motif; some of the sides of the basin are decorated [the sides facing SW, S, SE are blank]: one [NW] has the initials TH over M [cf. supra], another [E] has the date 1663 over a chalice (?) symbol; another side [NE] has an orb-and-cross symbol; another side [N] has a cross symbol over an emblem resembling an ear of corn; the basin is supported on a fluted round-to-square stem and raised on a quadrangular plinth; the sides) of the plinth show rhomboid pattern, some with a single round motif in them, that appears of an earlier date [perhaps re-used stones from elsewhere?]; plain octagonal wooden cover with metal handle. The font fits chronologically with a major rebuilding of this church in the 17th century and may have replaced an earlier one (to which perhaps the plinth belonged?)