South Wingfield, Oakerthorpe / South Winfield

Cox (1875) writes: "A miserable pretence of a font finds a prominent place at the west end of the church, but the original one lies in the churchyard to the north of the tower. It is of simple massive character, and lacks a base. It is of circular shape, one foot nine inches high, and two feet nine inches in diameter. The inside of the basin is of corresponding size and depth. In the rim are the staple holes by which the cover was fastened down. There can be no doubt of its Norman origin, and its very plainness points to an early period of that style." [NB: Cox (ibid.) follows this with a general complaint about the treatment of old fonts by some churchmen]. Soon thereafter, however, the old font was restored in the church, as noted in the 'Report of the Hon. Secretary, 1885' published in the Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society (vol. 8, Jan. 1886: xxiv): "At South Winfield the olf Norman font, which has for years been lying in the churchyard, has, we are glad to say, been recently brought within the church. Whilst rejoycing over the fate of this relic of the past, we have to deplore, what we must always consider to be the wanton and unjustifiable destruction of a font in another part of the county" [NB: cf. Index entry for Spondon for the further comments on that font]. Noted in Kelly's Directory of 1891 as a disused font. Noted in Pevsner (1978): "Font. Plain, big, Norman, of tub-shape."