Durham No. 3 / Dun Holm / Dunelm / Duresme

Noted in Mackenzie & Ross (1834): "The font is a ponderous bason of dark marble." Most sources, local and otherwise, date this font to the foundation of the church ca. 1150-1160. The Victoria County History (Durham, vol. 3, 1928) entry for this church reports: "The font stands below the tower and consists of a circular bowl of Frosterley marble on a cylindrical shaft. It is lined with lead and may be of late 12th-century date." The VCH entry further relates an interesting event that seems to introduce a later font, or put into question the date of this one: "St. Margaret's, since its foundation in the 12th century, had been a chapel of ease to St. Oswald's. Various documents suggest that the parishioners were not quite content with the subordinate position of the chapelry. In 1343 Prior Fossor became cognizant of the fact that a baptismal font had been erected without any reference either to the bishop [i.e., Bishop Bury] or to the prior, who was patron of St. Oswald's. The prior had it removed, to the great indignation of the people in the Old Borough, who made a bitter complaint to the bishop in the castle. He tried to mediate, and ordered a parish meeting within the chapel to discuss the question whether the font should remain against the will of the monastery, or on the express understanding that it was by the prior's grace. In the end the font was allowed to remain on condition that there should be no prejudice to the prior's rights." In Pevsner (1983): "Font. C12; plain Frosterley marble." The baptiaml font issue noted in the VCH is picked up by Harvey (2006), who informs of some interesting details of baptismal rights and use of the font in this church, namely that "the parish was allowed baptisms by permission of the prior", and that "the inhabitors of St Oswald might take the font out of the [..] chapel", giving thus first right-of-use to the font not to St. Margaret's parishioners but to the neighbours. Harvey (ibid.) writes of the "spectacular quarrel over this font and its use" which resulted from the mother church (Parish of St. Oswald's) rights over the daughter chapel (St. Margaret's) that actually owned the font. In the end, as noted in the VCH entry above, the font stayed at St. Margaret's. If the present Frosterley marble font is indeed 12th-century, and the issue went as narrated, is it possible that this font was acquired from an earlier nearby church? Was the ca. 1343 font a different one? The present font consists of a rather shallow round basin with tapering sides, raised on a cylindrical pedestal base decorated with a roll moulding, and a circular base moulded at the top; the narrow square lower base appears to be made of the same marble but, like the round plinth below and the stem, may be a modern addition.