Exeter No. 5 / Execestre / Exonia

There are eighteen entries for Exeter [variant spellings] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SX9292/exeter/] [accessed 13 May 2018], of which two mention a church in it. The parish' own web site [http://members.lycos.uk/stdavids] reports a "part of a font believed to be of Norman work and discovered in the last century in the yard of the Barnstaple Inn". The same source informs that the original church was a Chapel of Ease built in 1194 and dedicated to St. David; it became a parish church only in 1840. Clarke (1913) describes the two fragments: "remnants of two different Norman fonts are inserted in the shaft [of the modern font]. The larger fragment is of lava, and the plan is exactly the same as the upper part of the font of Stoke Canon, which is also made of lava. The general form is square, but the angles are rounded into engaged shafts, and the sides hewn to convex shape, having the corners projecting, flanking a circular bowl. It rests on a second fragment, which is of sandstone, measuring about six inches deep, which was unearthed during the building operations, and appears to be the inverted lower portion of the bowl of a Norman pedestal font. It has a quarter-round moulding." [cf. Index entry for Stoke Canon]. The entry for this church in Historic England [List entry Number: 1267226] reports: "The font, which was not provided until 1906, has finely textured decoration similar in character to that on the pulpit: it is square and stands on legs which frame the remains of a medieval font beneath the bowl. The counterweighted font cover is later and commemorates Valpy French (d 1914), vicar at the time of the rebuilding whose energy and vision inspired the whole project. He is represented, in medieval fashion, holding a model of the church in his hands."