Swineshead nr. Bedford / Suineshefet

Standing permission

Results: 7 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

design element - motifs - moulding - 2

Image Source: digital photograph taken in April 2006 by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of basin - interior

Image Source: digital photograph taken in April 2006 by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of church exterior - southwest view

Scene Description: Source caption: "St Nicholas' church, Swineshead [...] This church was largely built between 1330 and 1340. The clearstory to the south aisle was added slightly later in C15. The first documentary evidence of a church at Swineshead dates to 1279 when the Advowson belonged to Ralph de Swineshead. This church must have replaced an earlier one."

Image Source: digital photograph taken 30 May 2015 by Bikeboy [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/4513312] [accessed 15 September 2015]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of church interior - detail - clock

Scene Description: 17th-century clock; restored

Image Source: digital photograph taken in April 2006 by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]f www.genuki.org.uk

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font and cover

Image Source: digital photograph taken in April 2006 by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font and cover in context

Image Source: digital photograph taken in April 2006 by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

view of font cover

Image Source: digital photograph taken in April 2006 by Colin Hinson [www.yorkshireCDbooks.com]

Copyright Instructions: Standing permission

INFORMATION

FontID: 11679SWI

Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Nicholas

Church Patron Saints: St. Nicholas of Myra

Church Location: High Street, Swineshead, Bedford Borough MK44 2AA

Country Name: England

Location: Bedfordshire, East

Directions to Site: Located off (W) the B660, about 20 km N of Bedford

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of St. Albans

Historical Region: Hundred of Leightonstone [in Domesday] -- Hundred of Stodden -- formerly Huntingdonshire

Font Location in Church: Inside the church, in the W end

Date: ca. 1330?

Century and Period: 14th century (mid?), Decorated

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Colin Hinson, of www.yorkshireCDbooks.com, for his photographs of this font.

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

There are two entries for Swineshead [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TL0565/swineshead/] [accessed 15 September 2015], neither of which mentions cleric or church in it. The Victoria County History (Bedford, vol. 3, 1912) notes: "The earliest mention of the advowson of Swineshead Church occurs in 1279 [...] The [present] church seems to have been begun about 1330, and carried through with one alteration, the substitution of a west tower for one at first arranged for at the north-west. It was probably finished about 1360 [...] The font at the north-west of the nave is octagonal, and perhaps coeval with the church." The Bedford Borough Council site [www.bedfordshire.gov.uk/CommunityAndLiving/ArchivesAndRecordOffice/CommunityArchives/Swineshead/InventoryOfSwinesheadChurchFurniture1634.aspx] [accessed 13 October 2011] notes: "The first Swineshead parish register dating from 1550 to 1712 [P96/1/1] contains an inventiry of church furniture of 1634 on its last page [CRT130Swi1]." In this inventory is included "A decent font with a cover upon it". The present font, which would have been the same as the one listed in the above inventory, consists of an octagonal mounted basin that is plain except for two mouldings at top and bottom of the underbowl chamfer; the basin well is lined with lead, and has a central drain hole; raised on an octagonal pedestal base. The flat octagonal wooden cover appears old, hinged at the back, but the finial is probably a later addition [NB: not whether the cover is the one noted in the inventory of 1634].

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 52° 16′ 50.87″ N, 0° 27′ 00.96″ W

UTM: 30U 673859 5795302

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone

Font Shape: octagonal (mounted)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: octagonal

Drainage Notes: lead lining

LID INFORMATION

Date: [cf. FontNotes]

Material: wood,

Apparatus: no

Notes: [cf. FontNotes]

REFERENCES

Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. Accessed: 2011-10-13 00:00:00. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.