Exeter No. 5 / Execestre / Exonia

Image copyright © Andrew French, 2018

Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 17 April 2018)

Results: 3 records

view of church interior - detail

Scene Description: the plinth is in place; the top of the modern font is being prepared to go oneto it

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Andrew French, 2018

Image Source: digital photograph taken 4 May 2016 by Andrew French

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 17 April 2018)

view of font in context

Scene Description: the old fonr has been fitted into the plinth socket; the new font is prepared to go into place

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Andrew French, 2018

Image Source: digital photograph taken 4 May 2016 by Andrew French

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 17 April 2018)

view of font in context

Scene Description: the new font being put into place above the old one; the old font, probably made up of two unrelated basins, is visible in the centre

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Andrew French, 2018

Image Source: digital photograph taken 4 May 2016 by Andrew French

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received from the author (e-mail of 17 April 2018)

INFORMATION

FontID: 10331EXE
Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. David [originally from the Chapel of Ease built in 1194?]
Church Patron Saints: St. David [aka David of Wales, Davidus, Dewy]
Church Location: Queen's Terrace, Exeter EX4 4HR, UK -- Tel.: +44 1392 686000
Country Name: England
Location: Devon, South West
Directions to Site: The church is located in St. David's Hill
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Exeter
Historical Region: Hundred of Wonford
Font Location in Church: Beneath the modern font
Century and Period: 11th - 12th century, Norman
Cognate Fonts: [one of the fragments may be from a font resembling the one at Stoke Canon]
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Andrew French for his photographs of this font
Church Notes: preset church of 1900 replaced an earlier church of 1816 that burnt down in 1890
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."

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 50.7275, -3.538333
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 50° 43′ 39″ N, 3° 32′ 18″ W
UTM: 30U 462005 5619661

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, [one lava, another sandstone]
Number of Pieces: two fragments
Font Shape: [cf. FontNotes]
Basin Interior Shape: [cf. FontNotes]
Basin Exterior Shape: [cf. FontNotes]
Notes on Measurements: [Clarke (1913: 329) gives: height 12 in. -- diameter outside 19 in, as approx. measruments (presumably of the larger fragment?)]

REFERENCES

Clarke, Kate M., "The baptismal fonts of Devon -- Part I", 45, Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art, 1913, pp. 314-329; r["References"]
Clarke, Kate M., "The symbolism of the ancient fonts of Stoke Canon, St Mary Church and Alphington", IV:V (1907), Devon and Cornwall Notes & Queries, 1907, pp. 129-139 and plates; r["References"]