Kenn nr. Exeter / Chent / Kenne
Image copyright © John Salmon, 1982
CC-BY-SA-3.0
Results: 8 records
B01: design element - motifs - scallop
Scene Description: or semi-circles; on two of the sides
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Peter Holwell, 2009
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Peter Holwell 21 January 2006
Copyright Instructions: Permission received (e-mail from Peter Holwell 22 Sept 2009)
B02: design element - architectural - arcade - blind - round arches
Scene Description: each with six arches; on two of the sides
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Salmon, 1982
Image Source: photograph taken 1982 by John Salmon [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1727741] [accessed 28 February 2012]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Salmon, 1982
Image Source: photograph taken 1982 by John Salmon [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1727741] [accessed 28 February 2012]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Peter Holwell, 2009
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Peter Holwell 21 January 2006
Copyright Instructions: Permission received (e-mail from Peter Holwell 22 Sept 2009)
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]
Image Source: digital image of a B&W photograph [ca. 1922?] in Clarke
Copyright Instructions: PD
view of church exterior - south view
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Salmon, 1982
Image Source: photograph taken 1982 by John Salmon [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1727732] [accessed 28 February 2012]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0
view of church interior - nave - looking east
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Salmon, 1982
Image Source: photograph taken 1982 by John Salmon [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1727733] [accessed 28 February 2012]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0
view of stoup
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Salmon, 1982
Image Source: photograph taken 1982 by John Salmon [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1727744] [accessed 28 February 2012]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0
INFORMATION
Font ID: 10348KEN
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th - 13th century, Late Norman / Transitional?
Cognate Fonts: The fonts at Malborough, Coldridge and Southleigh, also in Devon. Oliver (1840-2) mentions Washfield as similar
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Andrew
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Andrew
Church Address: 3 Mill Cottages, Kenn, Exeter EX6 7UR, United Kingdom -- Tel.: +44 1392 824283
Site Location: Devon, South West, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located 7 km S of Exeter
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Exeter
Historical Region: Hundred of Exminster
Additional Comments: altered font: outer columns of the base are modern replacement -- damaged font: the upper part of the basin and some of the sides show extensive damage already in Clarke's image of ca. 1922 -- emailed parish req'g permit to repro their photo (permission rec'd)
Font Notes:
Click to view
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."
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Peter Holwell, of www.kennandkennford.co.uk, for his photograph of this font
COORDINATES
UTM: 30U 462805 5612226
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 50°39'39"N, 3°31'35"W
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, limestone (Purbeck marble)
Font Shape: square, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: square
Drainage System: centre hole in basin
Drainage Notes: lead-lined
Rim Thickness: 8.5 cm [calculated]
Diameter (inside rim): 65 cm*
Diameter (includes rim): 82.50 cm*
Basin Depth: 20 cm*
Basin Total Height: 25 cm*
Height of Central Column: 33.75 cm*
Font Height (less Plinth): 65 cm*
Notes on Measurements: * [measurements given in inches in Clarke (1922: 223)]
REFERENCES
- Clarke, Kate M., "The baptismal fonts of Devon -- Part IX", 54, Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art, 1922, pp. 216-223; p. 221, 223 and fig. 4 (opp. p. 219)
- Cresswell, Beatrix F., Notes on the Churches of the Deanery of Kenn, Devon, Exeter: J.G. Commin, 1912
- Leach, Rosemary, A Investigation into the use of Purbeck Marble in Medieval England, Hartlepool: E.W. Harrisons & Sons, 1975, p. 72
- Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England, Comprising the Several Counties, Cities, Boroughs, Corporate and Market Towns, Parishes, Chapelries, and Townships, and the Islands of Guernsy, Jersey, and Man, with Historical and Statistical Descriptions [...], London: S. Lewis, 1831, [www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=51071] [accessed 14 February 2007]
- Lysons, Daniel, Magna Britannia, being a concise topographical account of the several counties of Great Britain, London: Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1806-1822, vol. 6: p. cccxxx
- Oliver, George, Ecclesiastical Antiquities in Devon: being Observations on Several Churches in Devonshire, with some Memoranda for the History of Cornwall, Exeter: W.C. Featherstone, 1840-1842, vol. 1: 38, 136 / [http://books.google.ca/books?id=zMcAAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA183&lpg=PA183&dq=east+ogwell+church+font&source=web&ots=qiwSmA3SaR&sig=GoYiaFZ4ZCCFH6_w3zYAGKNtOG4&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=5&ct=result#PPA183,M1] [accessed 27 January 2009]
- Pevsner, Nikolaus, South Devon, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1952, p. 187
- Spreat, William, Picturesque Sketches of the Churches of Devon, Exeter: [The Author], 1842, [item no. 50]