Springfield nr. Chelmsford No. 1

Noted and illustrated in a letter to the editor of The Gentleman's Magazine (issue of June 1834: 594): "The elegant Font above represented, has been for many years rejected for another, and placed among lumber in the tower of the Church. From its form, and the style of the foliage, I consider it to be a specimen of the later Norman architecture about the time of Stephen [1135-1154] or Henry the First [1100-1135]. Its bason is 1 ft. 9 1/2 inc. in diameter, and 9 inc. deep." [NB: the font shown in this source has the square basin mounted on a pedestal base of square shape with broadly chamfered angles]. Lewis' Dictionary of 1848 reports: "the fon is of elegant workmanship, in the Norman style." In Coller (1861): "old Norman carved font". Noted with an illustration in the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (Essex, 1916-1923): "The late 12th-century font is one of the finest in the county [...] square bowl, richly carved with voluted foliage and large flowers, the under edge of the bowl scalloped and carved with water-leaves; late 12th-century." Described and illustrated in Gardner (1925) with dating to the Early English period, ca. 1220. Noted in Clapham (1934). In Pevsner (1976): "Font. Mid C13, and the best of the date in Essex, especially the E[ast] side with big, lush stiff-leaf scrolls. Two large rosettes each on the other sides." The Bettley & Pevsner ed. (2007) has moved the date to the "Early C13", and adds: "Base renewed 1867". The baptismal font consists of a square cushion-capital shaped basin, the sides decorated with two roundels of foliage in varied patterns on each side; the underbowl follows the contour of the rounded sides of the cushion and end in a thin roll moulding at the bottom; it is raised on a plain cylindrical stem; flat wooden cover, probably modern. Noted and illustrated in the parish web site [http://www.allsaintsspringfield.co.uk/All_Saints_Church/History2.html] [accessed 20 September 2010], which also notes: "The first stone church was built in 1066 by the request of Ralph de Peverell, the son of William the Conqueror." [which would mean that an earlier font existed in that church]. [cf. Index entry for an earlier holy-water stoup in this church]