Hartington

Cox (1875-1877) writes that, although there was no church present at the time of the Domesday Survey [1086], "we have no doubt that one was erected here in the next century, if not at the end of the eleventh"; in any case a church dedicated to St. Giles is documented here by 1204. Cox further notes: "At the west end of the church is an octagon font, one face of which is against the wall, on two others are uncharged shields, and on the remaining five is pointed tracery of different designs." Bunting (2001) notes: "The octagonal font at Hartington, described in 1843 as 'whitewashed' and before cleaning in 1900 as 'garishly coloured', is carved with shields and tracery." In Pevsner (1978): "Font. Perp[endicular], octagonal, with divers tracery panels (similar to Darley Dale)". [NB: the church itself is 13th-century, greatly restored in the mid-19th, but the description of the font appears more suited to the Gothic style of the Perpendicular period]. A photograph of 22 May 2009 by JMC4 in FLICKR [www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/3971195195/in/pool-oldfonts] [accessed 20 October 2009] shows to what extent the font has been 'restored': it is difficult to ascertain what is re-tooled and what is original.