St. Briavels / Saint Briavels / Ledeneia Parva / Ledene Parva

No entry found for St Briavels in the Domesday survey. Allen (1884-1885) [cf. infra] reports a font here. Fryer (1911), who provides a B&W photograph of the font, writes: "The waist-band on the font at St. Briavels is also a shelf, consisting of sixteen small scallops. It is quite unique and presents the appearance of a frill, and in fact it is so described in a paper written on this ancient church of Ledeneia Parva in our Transactions some years ago. The writer remarks that this font is worthy of notice, 'with a frill moulding round the base of the bowl'" [the entry is footnoted: "In 1884 a paper was written on the Parish Church of St. Briavels by the Rev. William Taprell Allen, M.A."] The entry for this parish in the The Victoria County History (Gloucester, vol. 5, 1996): "St Briavels church was a chapel to Lydney church for much of its history. It was probably included in a grant of Lydney church to Lire abbey (Eure) by William FitzOsbern (d. 1071) [...] [it] was apparently dedicated to St. Briavels in the 12th century [...] The Norman stone font has a plain tub-shaped bowl with a projecting waistband of scallops" [footnoted with a reference to Fryer's 1911 entry]. Described in Verey & Brooks (1999-2002): "Font. Norman, circular, the bowl with a most unusual shelf of sixteen lobes projecting horizontally like a frill; made of the same stone as the S arcade". Illustrated by Dr. Digi and reproduced in the Ecclesiological Society's web page for May 2000 [source: www.ecclsocl.org/imagesep2001.html]: "The Norman font at St Mary, St Briavels, Gloucestershire. This font is probably unique in that it has a skirt of 16 lobes. The font is made of the same stone as the Norman south arcade of the church." The font consists of a cylindrical basin decorated with an incised line at the upper and lower basin sides simulating a moulding; below the basin, just after a narrowing is the 'skirt of 16 lobes' mentioned above; [although this skirt appears to be part of the same block as the basin itself, if it were not, one should date this part to a later date; if it is part of the same block, perhaps it was recut and not part of the Norman design -- it is difficult to accept such an ornament in a font of this period]; the base is formed by a plain and short cylindrical pedestal that ends in two roll mouldings; the lower base is octagonal, of two steps, and there is an octagonal plinth of the same width (the attached kneeling stone is a separate piece). A flat wooden lid, relatively modern and decorated with iron work and handle, covers the font.