Spreyton No. 1 / Spreighton

Image copyright © [in the public domain]

PD

Results: 2 records

view of basin

Scene Description: the three-support base shown here is made of three dressed stones unrelated to the font

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © [in the public domain]

Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Clarke (1915)

Copyright Instructions: PD

view of basin

Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Peter & John Williams, 2004

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

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

INFORMATION

FontID: 10383SPR
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, in the N aisle, against the wall [reported earlier in the churchyard ca. 1915]
Century and Period: , Medieval
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to John and Peter Williams, of www.spreyton.org.uk, for the photographs of this font.
Described and illustrated in Clarke (1915): "In the churchyard of Spreyton is an interesting granite bowl, which may have been the predecessor of the font now in the church [cf. Index entry for Spreyton No. 2]. It is roughly hewn, not perfectly circular, and the drain-hole, which is 3 1/2 inches deep, is towards the side, as at Poltimore. The bowl now rests on three stones which were found in the glebe. They are all dressed stones, and were perhaps part of a cross." This object is described in Spreyton's web site [www.spreyton.org.uk] as a "crudely circular font bowl in the north aisle", against the wall [obviously moved in from the churchyard since Clarke's report of 1915]; it has been suggested that this object, continues the same source, "together with the large slab of granite which forms the altar (and now rests on an oak table) and the piscina in the sanctuary, probably derive from an earlier church on the site".

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, granite
Number of Pieces: one [base missing]
Font Shape: tub-shaped
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round
Diameter (inside rim): 27.5 cm*
Diameter (includes rim): 73.75 - 81.25 cm*
Basin Depth: 17.5 cm*
Basin Total Height: 37.5 cm*
Notes on Measurements: *[measurements given in inches in Clarke (1915: 356)]

REFERENCES

Clarke, Kate M., "The baptismal fonts of Devon -- Part III", 47, Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art, 1915, pp. 349-356; r["References"]