St. Nectan's Chapel / Saint Necta's Chapel / St. Nighton's Chapel
INFORMATION
Font ID: 10648NEC
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th century [basin only], Medieval [composite]
Cognate Fonts: St. Enoder, Feock, Fowey, etc.
Church / Chapel Name: St. Nectan's Chapel [chapel-at-ease of St. Winnow]
Font Location in Church: Inside the chapel
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Nectan [aka Nighton]
Site Location: Cornwall, South West, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located 3 km NE of St. Winnow, ENE of Bodmin
Font Notes:
Click to view
Noted in Lysons (1806-1833) as one of a group of remarkable fonts in this county. Cox (1912) notes that "St. Nighton was a distinct parish in mediaeval
days, and thus remained temp. James I. [i.e., 1603-1625]; now for long time attached as chapelry to St. Winnow", and describes the font: "Bowl of font square, with ribs at angles, and is either late Norm[an] or Trans[ition]. The Genuki site [www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Cornwall/[...]] informs that this chapel is located about two miles north-east of St. Winnow; it is "a chapel at ease dedicated to St Nectan (called locally St Nighton's chapel)" and "marriages and baptisms are celebrated in it". Pevsner (1970) notes a font in this church: "The bowl seems old, but has no features to help in the dating." [NB: the discrepancy in the round vs. square descriptions above stems from the shape of the basin, which resembles a round vessel contained in a square frame, a shape not uncommon in medieval fonts, as well as mortars]. Illustrated in A Snap in Time [http://www.caerkief.co.uk/Churches/Nectan.html] [accessed 19 November 2009]
days, and thus remained temp. James I. [i.e., 1603-1625]; now for long time attached as chapelry to St. Winnow", and describes the font: "Bowl of font square, with ribs at angles, and is either late Norm[an] or Trans[ition]. The Genuki site [www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Cornwall/[...]] informs that this chapel is located about two miles north-east of St. Winnow; it is "a chapel at ease dedicated to St Nectan (called locally St Nighton's chapel)" and "marriages and baptisms are celebrated in it". Pevsner (1970) notes a font in this church: "The bowl seems old, but has no features to help in the dating." [NB: the discrepancy in the round vs. square descriptions above stems from the shape of the basin, which resembles a round vessel contained in a square frame, a shape not uncommon in medieval fonts, as well as mortars]. Illustrated in A Snap in Time [http://www.caerkief.co.uk/Churches/Nectan.html] [accessed 19 November 2009]
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone
Font Shape: square, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round
REFERENCES
- Cox, John Charles, Cornwall, London: George Allen & Company, 1912, p. 191
- 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. III: p. ccxxiii
- Pevsner, Nikolaus, Cornwall, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1970, p. 196