Spreyton No. 2 / Spreighton

Permission received (email of 9 January 2005)

Results: 15 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

B01: design element - motifs - circle - 32

Scene Description: grouped in cross-form, four per side of the octagonal basin

Image Source: John & Peter Williams [www.spreyton.org.uk]

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (email of 31 December 2004)

CR01: design element - motifs - roll moulding

Scene Description: the moulding is part of the basin block

LB01: design element - motifs - floral - lily? (Tree of Life?)

Scene Description: [cf. Font notes]

Image Source: John & Peter Williams [www.spreyton.org.uk]

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (email of 31 December 2004)

LB02: human figure - warrior? - with shield?

Scene Description: this figure and the next have been gouped as a possible Annunciation -- on its own it has been identified as a possible Eve [cf. Font notes]

Image Source: John & Peter Williams [www.spreyton.org.uk]

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (email of 31 December 2004)

LB03: Virgin Mary - crowned

Scene Description: this figure and the previous have been gouped as a possible Annunciation -- on its own it has been identified as a possible enthroned Mary [cf. Font notes]

Image Source: John & Peter Williams [www.spreyton.org.uk]

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (email of 31 December 2004)

LB04: Apostle or saint - St. Catherine of Alexandria - with wheel?

Image Source: John & Peter Williams [www.spreyton.org.uk]

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (email of 31 December 2004)

LB05: Apostle or saint - Apostles - St. Andrew - with his cross?

Scene Description: identified also as a symbol of mortality? [cf. Font notes]

Image Source: John & Peter Williams [www.spreyton.org.uk]

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (email of 31 December 2004)

LB06: human figure - female?

Scene Description: it has been grouped together with the next image and suggested to represent the donors [cf. Font notes]

Image Source: John & Peter Williams [www.spreyton.org.uk]

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (email of 31 December 2004)

LB07: human figure - male?

Scene Description: it has been grouped together with the previous image and suggested to represent the donors [cf. Font notes]

Image Source: John & Peter Williams [www.spreyton.org.uk]

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (email of 31 December 2004)

view of base - detail

Image Source: Roger Peters [www.wissensdrang.com]

Copyright Instructions: Permission received (email of 9 January 2005)

view of base - detail

Image Source: Roger Peters [www.wissensdrang.com]

Copyright Instructions: Permission received (email of 9 January 2005)

view of base - detail

Image Source: Roger Peters [www.wissensdrang.com]

Copyright Instructions: Permission received (email of 9 January 2005)

view of font

Image Source: Roger Peters [www.wissensdrang.com]

Copyright Instructions: Permission received (email of 9 January 2005)

view of font and cover

Image Source: John & Peter Williams [www.spreyton.org.uk]

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (email of 31 December 2004)

view of font and cover

Image Source: John & Peter Williams [www.spreyton.org.uk]

Copyright Instructions: Image and permission received (email of 31 December 2004)

INFORMATION

FontID: 10347SPE

Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Michael

Church Patron Saints: St. Michael

Country Name: England

Location: Devon, South West

Directions to Site: Located 13 km NE of Okehampton, 28 km NW of Exeter

Font Location in Church: Inside the church

Century and Period: 12th century / 15th - 17th century[re-tooled], Norman [altered?]

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Dr. Roger Peters, of www.wissensdrang.com, for his permission to use the transcription of and image from Stabb (1908). We are also grateful to John and Peter Williams, of www.spreyton.org.uk, for the recent (December 2004) photographs of this font.

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

Reported in White's Devonshire Directory of 1850: "The font is of granite, with some rude figures carved upon it." The font is described and illustrated in Stabb (1908): "The font in this church [...] in shape is octagonal, the top of the bowl is ornamented with a design of circles on each of the faces; each face slopes inwards until the base of the bowl is of nearly the same size as the shaft. The faces of the shaft are ornamented with carvings. It is the exception to find carvings on the shafts in Devonshire. These are of a particularly rude style of workmanship, looking more like a child's first attempt at drawing than anything else. Only seven sides of the shaft are carved, the eighth is against a pillar and left plain. It is almost impossible to say what these carvings are intended to represent; beginning at the left-hand back, there is (1st) what looks like a branching candlestick; (2nd) a figure with the arms akimbo, and a shield or masonic apron hanging in front [...]; (3rd) a female figure with the arms akimbo, and a crown on the head [...]; (4th) half a figure with the arms akimbo, on top of what may be intended to represent a wheel, or the sun; (5th) a cross with a head above — possibly this is intended for St. Andrew; (6th) a female figure with the arms akimbo; (7th) a male figure with the arms akimbo and the legs stretched out as if in the act of walking [...]. The curious position of the arms is the same in each figure. Granite is a difficult medium to work, and possibly there may have been no fine detail in the carving, but if there was, it has all disappeared. It is said this font is of Saxon date, but the rudeness of the carving is no proof of this; there are Saxon fonts with much finer carving, and the shape of the font is rather against its Saxon origin." Pevsner (1952) writes: "Norman, octagonal, with the most primitive ginger-bread-like figures in relief on the pillar and a quincunx ornament on the panels of the bowl." Described in the town's web site: "Good late Norman granite font with octagonal bowl, each side carved with simple geometric patterns and octagonal stem, each side carved with crude representations nevertheless recognisable for instance as the Tree of Life, Mortality, Our lady crowned etc." Note, however, that the same site, in another section, gives a much more realistic evaluation of this font: "The octagonal font, though no earlier than the 15th century, has the appearance of being almost archaic so rudely is it cut, with an attempt to execute figures i[n] a medium by no means suited for any sort of sculpture. The panels are ornamented with a design on circles and on the shaft are these rough designs: a lily plant, followed by two figures, this may have been intended to represent the [A]nnunciation. A figure with a wheel is no doubt St Katherine; next to which is St Andrew with his cross; then appears a female, and a man in a short jerkin or vestment, perhaps a donor. The last panel is plain." [source: www.spreyton.org.uk]. [NB: only the latter description matches this late font, definitely a late work, regardless of the crudity of the figures on it; it is also quite likely that this font, at least the basin, may have been re-carved or re-tooled at some point].

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, granite

Number of Pieces: two

Font Shape: octagonal (mounted)

Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal

LID INFORMATION

Date: modern

Material: wood,

Apparatus: no

Notes: flat and plain

REFERENCES

Pevsner, Nikolaus, South Devon, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1952

Stabb, John, Some old Devon churches, their roods, pulpits, fonts, etc., London: Simkin, [et al.], 1908-1916

White, William, History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Devonshire, [s.l.]: [Printed for the author], 1850