Askham No. 1

Curwen (1932) notes: "William de Romara, earl of Lincoln, granted to the canons of Wartre Priory inter alia the church and lands of Gamel the priest of Askham. The gift was confirmed to the canons by Pope Innocent 11 on 15 September, 1140, and by Pope Innocent IV in the year 1245." [De Romara [aka Romare, Roumare, Romay, Romayre] b. ca. 1096]. The church is valued in the ""Antique Taxatio Ecclesiastica" of Pope Nicholas IV, made in 1291". Noble (1904) refers to a document in the Records Office that mentions "St. Kentigern of Askham" in connection with the Priory of Wartre, in Yorkshire, to which it must have been connected since in 1375 a Henry de Holme, canon of the Priory of Wartre, was also vicar of Askham; Noble (ibid.) further writes of a visit and description of this church by Bishop Nicholson in 1704 that reported "a convenient font" in this church; although no details of the font were given, it was probably the 1661 font here [cf. infra]. An earlier font must have existed at the time of the first recorded baptism in this church, on 19 June 1566, "was Jane Collinsonne christened". Pevsner (1967) notes: "Fonts. One plain, and dated 1661.-- The other plainly panelled, with no separate foot. Can this be c.1832?". The Visit Cumbria site [www.visitcumbria.com] informs that "the south transept, which was originally the Sandford family burial chapel (1225), was rebuilt on the ground plan of the old church. In 1950 the Stanford Chapel was dedicated as a Baptistry, containing the 17th Century font from the old church." The present font consists of a small square-to-octagonal basin decorated with the date '1661' inscribed in a shield on the side; raised on a pedestal base of two blocks, the lower block octagonal-to-square. [cf. Index entry for Askahm No. 2 for the later font in this church]