Bristol No. 6

There is a 1788 ink-wash-on-paper drawing by Samuel Hieronymus Grimm (1733-1794) of a font at Redcliffe St. Mary's in the British Library collections [Shelfmark: Additional MS 15540 - Item number: f.141]; the font consists of an octagonal basin decorated with trefoiled panels, and a round underbowl with foliage patterns; raised on a short octagonal pedestal base and a splaying lower base also octagonal; there is nothing in the drawing to indicate that the font is not free-standing, but it is now [October 2010] attached to one of the pillars of the nave, and it looks like it has been there for a long time. Pevsner (1958) notes two fonts in this church: "S[outh] aisle: Perp[endicular], octagonal, with panelling.- Behind the altar: C18 baluster." The latter is probably the one noted in Foyle (2004) though moved by then to a different location: "in the tower a baluster font by Thomas Paty of 1755". The Parish web site [www.stmaryredcliffe.co.uk] [accessed 31 October 2011] informs: "St Mary Redcliffe possesses three fonts dating from different periods. The oldest stands at the west end due to an ancient tradition that those to be baptised gather here before entering the main part of the church and their new life as Christians. [...] A carved dove, which was once part of the 18th century pulpit, hangs above this font as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. The other fonts stand in St John's Chapel, one carved out of the marble by Thomas Paty for the early remodelling of the church and the other, dating from the 15th century, one of the last surviving fragments of St John's Bedminster, the mother church of St Mary Redcliffe." The font described as "the oldest" in the Parish site [cf. supra] consists of a polygonal [seven sides?] basin decorated with pairs of trefoiled arches or windows on six (?) sides, the other side being attached to a pillar of the nave; the underbowl is also polygonal and is decorated with a foliage pattern; there is a pedestal base also polygonal and decorated with a single moulding; the basin has been badly damaged and has been repaired with numerous new-stone inserts. [NB: we have no information on the baptismal font from the pre-Conquest church]. -- [NB: another font was reported inside this church, one labelled as being originally from Bedminster St James -- reported and photographed by Colin Smith [e-mail to BSI 9 May 2016]]