Earl Soham / Earls Soham

Results: 4 records

view of church interior - detail

a 15th-century style font on a modern [20th-century] bench end
Scene Description: a 15th-century style font on a modern [20th-century] bench end
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Aidan Semmens, 2006
Image Source: digital photograph by Aidan Semmens in Simon Knott's www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/earlsoham.html
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

INFORMATION

Font ID: 11530SOH
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 15th century, Perpendicular
Workshop/Group/Artisan: heraldic font
Cognate Fonts: [cf. FontNotes]
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Mary, Earl Soham
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Church Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17527030
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Mary the Virgin
Church Address: Earl Soham, Woodbridge IP13 7SE, United Kingdom -- Tel.: +44 1728 685308
Site Location: Suffolk, East Anglia, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located on the A1120, 19 NW of Woodbridge, about 20 km N of Ipswich
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich
Font Notes:
Gough (1792) notes that the font at Earls Soham [sic] is similar to the one at Heveningham, "except that the angels hold shields." Lewis' Dictionary of 1848 notes: "the font, of Caen stone, is richly sculptured", and dates the church and contents "chiefly in the later English style". Pareker (1855) mentions an octagonal font in this church. Listed in Cautley (1982) as a font of the 15th century bearing an inscription, and with a 17th-century cover. An article by Yeoman in the East Anglian Daily Times (18 April 1928) [reproduced in http://www.earl-soham.suffolk.gov.uk/history/romance2.htm [accessed 2 June 2009] notes the font and its inscription: "The octagonal font, on which, amongst other things, are angels holding shields and representations of lions, is also somewhat damaged, though fortunately not to any great extent. About its base is the pious injunction to "Pray for the soul of Robert Kinge, who caused this font to be made" although, in fact, the inscription is practically illegible. "

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

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

INSCRIPTION

Inscription Location: on the base
Inscription Text: ["Pray for the soul of Robert Kinge, who caused this font to be made"]
Inscription Notes: [cf. FontNotes]
Inscription Source: [cf. FontNotes]

LID INFORMATION

Date: 17th-century?
Material: wood
Notes: [cf. FontNotes]

REFERENCES

  • Cautley, Henry Munro, Suffolk churches and their treasures, Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1982, p. 68, 87
  • Gough, Richard, "Description of the old font in the Church of East Meon, Hampshire, 1789: with some observations on fonts", X, Archaeologia, 1792, pp. 183-209; p. 198
  • Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England, Comprising the Several Counties, Cities, Boroughs, Corporate and Market Towns, Parishes, Chapelries, and Townships, and the Islands of Guernsy, Jersey, and Man, with Historical and Statistical Descriptions [...], London: S. Lewis, 1831, [www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=51286] [accessed 19 December 2006]
  • Parker, John Henry, The Ecclesiastical and architectural topography of England [...] Suffolk, 1855, [unpaged]