Ashwell / Aescwelle / Asceuuelle / Ascewelle / Assewell / Asshewell / Esceuuelle / Escewelle / Eswell
Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2008
Photograph and Permission received (10 July 2005)
Results: 17 records
B01: symbol - shield - in a quatrefoil - Christ - the instruments of the Passion - hammer
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]
Copyright Instructions: Photograph and Permission received (10 July 2005)
B02: symbol - shield - in a quatrefoil - Christ - the instruments of the Passion - lance, sponge
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]
Copyright Instructions: Photograph and Permission received (10 July 2005)
B03: symbol - shield - in a quatrefoil - the instruments of the Passion - ladder
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]
Copyright Instructions: Photograph and Permission received (10 July 2005)
B04: symbol - shield - in a quatrefoil - Instrumentos of the Passion - dice?
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]
Copyright Instructions: Photograph and Permission received (10 July 2005)
B05: symbol - shield - in a quatrefoil - Instrumentos of the Passion - seamless robe
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]
Copyright Instructions: Photograph and Permission received (10 July 2005)
B06: symbol - shield - in a quatrefoil - the instruments of the Passion - crown of thorns
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]
Copyright Instructions: Photograph and Permission received (10 July 2005)
B07: symbol - shield - in a quatrefoil - the instruments of the Passion - Cross
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]
Copyright Instructions: Photograph and Permission received (10 July 2005)
B08: symbol - shield - in a quatrefoil - the instruments of the Passion - nails
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]
Copyright Instructions: Photograph and Permission received (10 July 2005)
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]
Copyright Instructions: Photograph and Permission received (10 July 2005)
view of font and cover
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]
Copyright Instructions: Photograph and Permission received (10 July 2005)
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]
Copyright Instructions: Photograph and Permission received (10 July 2005)
view of church exterior - southeast view
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © John Salmon, 2011
Image Source: digital photograph taken 21 June 2011 by John Salmon [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2474376] [accessed 14 July 2015]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0
view of church interior - nave - looking west
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Alexander P Kapp, 2013
Image Source: digital photograph taken 4 February 2013 by Alexander P Kapp [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3324216] [accessed 15 July 2015]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0
view of church interior - nave - looking east
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Alexander P Kapp, 2013
Image Source: digital photograph taken 4 February 2013 by Alexander P Kapp [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3324222] [accessed 15 July 2015]
Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0
view of font and cover in context
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]
Copyright Instructions: Photograph and Permission received (10 July 2005)
design element - motifs - S in a circle - 2 - up-and-down
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]
Copyright Instructions: Photograph and Permission received (10 July 2005)
design element - motifs - saltire
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Colin Hinson, 2008
Image Source: digital photograph taken by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]
Copyright Instructions: Photograph and Permission received (10 July 2005)
INFORMATION
Font ID: 10944ASH
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 15th - 16th century/ 19th century, Perpendicular? / Victorian?
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, at the W end of the nave
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Mary the Virgin
Church Address: Ashwell, Hertfordshire, SG7 5QQ
Site Location: Hertfordshire, East, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located off (E) the A1, 5-6 km NNE of Letchworth
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of St. Albans [formerly in the diocese of Westminster and London]
Historical Region: Hundred of Odsey [in Domesday]
Additional Comments: disappeared font? (the one from the Domesday-time church here)
Font Notes:
Click to view
There are four entries for this Ashwell [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TL2639/ashwell/] [accessed 15 July 2015], one of which mentions a priest, but not a church in it, though there ptobably was there. Baptismal font consisting of an octagonal basin with a graded underbowl, raised on an octagonal pedestal base and an octagonal plinth with 'priest's stone' extension; the sides of the basin are deeply carved with two types of quatrefoils into which are set shields bearing the Instruments of the Passion [L->R: 1)hammer; 2)lance & sponge; 3)ladder; 4)dice?; 5)seamless shirt; 6)crown of thorn; 7)cross; 8)nails]; the sides of the pedestal base are decorated with tracery motifs, alternating a saltire with two Gothic S motifs in a one-up-one-down arrangement; the pyramidal wooden cover, probably Victorian, is decorated with tracery motifs and cusped arrises on the eight sides. Noted in the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, Hertforshire (1911): "Font: modern, steps probably 14th-century". The Victoria County History (Hertford, vol. 3, 1912) notes: "The record of a priest among the tenants of the Abbot of Westminster in 1086 implies the existence of a church there at that date. [...] The nave is the earliest portion of the church, the first four bays from the east, together with the clearstory and chancel arch, belong to the middle of the 14th century; the chancel, west tower and western bay of the nave, together with the side aisles, were constructed some thirty years later. The south porch was built about 1420 and the north porch about the middle of the 15th century. [...] The font is modern, but the steps appear to be original."
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Colin Hinson, of www.yorkshireCDbooks.com, for his photographs of this font.
COORDINATES
UTM: 30U 695271 5769538
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 52.042015, -0.152622
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 52° 2′ 31.25″ N, 0° 9′ 9.44″ W
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone
Font Shape: octagonal, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal
LID INFORMATION
Date: Victorian? / 19th century?
Material: wood, oak
Apparatus: no
Notes: [cf. FontNotes]
REFERENCES
- Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.
- Great Britain. Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Hertfordshire, London: Printed for His Majesty's Stationary Office by J. Truscott, 1911, p. 39