West Orchard No. 1

Long (1923) notes: "At West Orchard only the bowl remains in a dilapidated condition in the churchyard, having been wantonly removed from the church at the restoration in 1878". [NB: the object in the churchyard [cf. infra] does not correspond to Long's classification of the font in this church as "a good example of the quatrefoil type of bowl" of the enriched octagonal fonts of the Perpendicular period", and therefore must be considered a second font (?)]. The photograph of a tub-shaped font-like object is shown in the Dorset OPC entry for West Orchard [www.dorset-opc.com/Orchard.htm] with the caption: "This plant container looks suspiciously like an early Saxon or Norman font bowl?" It does indeed; Norman possibly, medieval probably. The tub-shaped object is quasi-cylindrical, with slightly tapering sides that end in a scotia and round moulding at the bottom. It looks badly weathered. [cf. Index entry for West Orchard No. 2 for a Perpendicular font in this church]