Kenn nr. Exeter / Chent / Kenne

There is an entry for this Kenn [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SX9285/kenn/] [accessed 13 February 2023]; it mentions neither cleric nor church in it]. Listed in Lysons (1806-1822) as one of a group of square baptismal fonts in the county that are "for the most part supported by four pillars and a large pedestal in the centre". Described in Oliver (1840-1842) as "singularly beautiful [...] of Purbeck Marble […] Two sides of the font bear six circular arches : the other two sides have semi-circles inverted.". Oliver (ibid.) mentions the font at Washfield as similar. Described in Spreat (1842): "The font [...] is square, with half circles carved in bas relief on the sides; it rests on a massive circular shaft, with four smaller shafts at the corners; this is one of the forms in which we generally find those fonts executed, which may be referred to the period of what is designated norman architecture, and which prevailed in the 12th century" [source: www.devon.gov.uk/library/locstudy/sc1387.html]. Lewis' Dictionary of 1848 reports: "The church has a stone font in the early English style". Clarke (1922), who illustrates this font, dates it and others of this type in Devon (Malborough, Southleigh, Coldridge, etc.) to the 13th century. Clarke (ibib.) notes on the Kenn font: "a curious feature; while two sides of the bowl have the ordinary round-topped arcade, on the other sides the arches are reversed"; Clarke also notes that the basin is made of marble [Purbeck "marble", a variety of limestone]. In Pevsner (1952): "Norman, of the not unusual table-top type." The four outer colonnettes of the base appear to be a 19th-century replacement. Noted in Leach (1975) as a font made of Purbeck marble: "bowl with panels which are reversed on two faces" source given: Pevsner]. The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SX9219585696] notes: "Parish church. C12/early C13 font [...] The nave has a C12 Purbeck marble font under the tower with a square bowl with blind arcading on the rounded stem with corner shafts."