Ramsey nr. Peterborough

Listed in Paley (1844) as a hexagonal baptismal font. In Geldart (1899) after Pugin. The Victoria County History (Huntingdon, vol. 2, 1932) notes: "in 1139, Pope Innocent II refers to Bury chapel just after it was built, according to architectural evidence, as being situated next the monastery [...] A parish church, however, existed at Ramsey before 1291, when we have a return of it. [...] The present building, which was originally erected about 1180, is of peculiar plan. [...] As in the case of all monasteries of Pre-Conquest foundation, the parishioners of Ramsey doubtless had rights in the monastic church. After the introduction of stricter rule and more elaborate services in the 12th century, particularly the Sunday Procession, the parochial services, probably at Ramsey as elsewhere, interfered with those of the monks. Hence, accommodation for the parishioners was no doubt made by a parochial chapel outside the monastic church, but possibly at a later date than was customary elsewhere if the present church had been originally an infirmary. [...] The blue marble hexagonal font of about 1200 was found about 1844 buried below the floor of the aisle. It has a circular central shaft and six angle shafts." Described in Pevsner (1968): "Font. Hexagonal, absolutely plain, and of some species of dark marble. Probably C13 too. The existence of a font, as Mr Dickinson remarked to me, would also point to parcochial use [of the church] in the C13 -- i.e. if the font is in its original habitat." Listed in Stocker (1997) as a "deep burial" instance in his listing of "font bowls reportedly discovered under church floors and set beneath successors." Baxter (2003) notes in the CRSBI (2008): "The font is not included in this report since (and in spite of Black's assertion that it is earlier than any of the fabric) it is an early- to mid-13thc. piece, but this is of interest since it suggests that the church was in parochial use at that time." [Baxter's reference is to Black's 'Notes on Ramsey', 1904]. A 1901 photograph of the Ramsey font is listed in the CALM on-line catalogue [http://calm.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/ArchiveCatalogue/] [accessed 20 April 2012] as part of the Hunts Photograph Collection, Huntingdonshire Archives [ref.: PH63/39/2].