Melbury Sampford No. 1 / Upper Melbury

Results: 2 records

INFORMATION

Font ID: 11337MEL
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 15th century, Perpendicular
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church [now a private property]
Font Location in Church: Inside the church?
Church Address: Melbury Sampford, Dorchester DT2 0LF, United Kingdom
Site Location: Dorset, South West, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located about 13-14 km SSW of Sherborne
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Salisbury
Font Notes:
Noted in Long (1923) as a "good example of the quatrefoil type of bowl" of the enriched octagonal fonts of the Perpendicular period. Mee (1939) writes: "The font is unusual in having three corners, and in being let into a pier of one of the arches of the tower." In Newman & Pevsner (1972): "Font. Perp[endicular], octagonal, with quatrefoils." [NB: this church is now -2005- reported in private hands and we have no information on whether or not the font remains inside the church]. [There is no mention of the font in Hutchins, who does mention a stoup on the west doorway -- cf. Index entry for Melbury Sampford No. 2]

COORDINATES

UTM: 30U 528034 5633409
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 50.8517, -2.60175
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 50° 51′ 6.12″ N, 2° 36′ 6.3″ W

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone
Font Shape: octagonal, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal

REFERENCES

  • Long, E.T., "Dorset church fonts", 44, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club, 1923, pp. 62-76; p. 72, 76
  • Mee, Arthur, The King's England. Dorset: Thomas Hardy's Country, London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1939, p. 153
  • Pevsner, Nikolaus, Dorset, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972, p. 277