Lund nr. Kirkham / Clifton

Raines' annotated edition (145- ) of Gastrell's 'Notitia cestriensis" of 1717 has: "In the year 1688 Matthew Hall, Churchwarden, had an information laid against him before the Bishop of Chester, for setting up 'a scandalous trough' for a Font, at Lund Chapel; which is said to have been a veritable Roman Altar, and the honest Warden to have had very loose notions on 'the peril of Idolatry'". The Notes and Queries issue of 28 January 1933 (p. 55) notes: "In the January number of Antiquaries Journal will be found a description of the Roman altar to the Matres which, since 1688, has been used as a font in Lund church, near Kirkham, Lancashire. Mr. J. P. Droop here, for the first time, gives a reproduction of the carving on the sides of the altar—dancing figures, in lower relief than the three figures of the Matres carved on the front and too greatly defaced for details or style to be ascertained, but, the' writer thinks, with a distinctive touch of the Neo-Attic in the attitudes. Protest was made to the bishop at a visitation of 1701 about this "scandalous trough" which " Mattw Hull Chcnwarden " had set up; nevertheless, it has remained. A stone trough, let into the top of the altar at first formed the actual font; it has been replaced by a metal basin. Date and origin of the altar are unknown, but, having been cut from a carboniferous grit, it is very probable that it was quarried in- the near neighbourhood of Kirkham." Described in Betjeman (1958) as a "Roman altar used as font". The official web site for the county of Lancashire [www.lancashire.gov.uk] describes and illustrates a "Roman Altar re-used as a font at Lund Church"; the object looks indeed like a classical Roman altar: rectangular and monolithic, with a curved top surface [now adjusted and fitted with a font cover]; the front side of the "altar" has three human figures standing on a ledge. Listed in Stocker (1997) as one of a group of "Roman altars incorporated into fonts". Illustrated in http://www.lancashire.gov.uk/environment/historichighways/roman3.asp [accessed 7 January 2010]. The Open Churches Trust [http://www.openchurchestrust.org.uk/Churches/Lund.htm] [accessed 7 January 2010] notes: "There is also the font, reputed to be a Roman altar. This is referred to in 1701 in records of the Parish Vestry: "Matt Hall, Churchwarden of Kirkham in 1688 set up a scandalous trough for a font in Lund Chapel"." This complaint is also recorded in Porter (1876). Noted and illustrated in the Digital Atlas of England [www.digiatlas.org/?m=201402] [accessed 28 June 2016]: " The major attraction here […] a Roman altar used as a font. Dancing ladies on the short sides and three figures on one of the other sides."