South Benfleet

INFORMATION

FontID: 11896BEN
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin
Church Patron Saints: St. Mary the Virgin
Country Name: England
Location: Essex, East
Directions to Site: Located 10 km W of Southend-on-Sea, 50 lm E of central London
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Century and Period: 13th century [stem only] [composite font], Transitional / Early English [altered]
Font Notes:
Benton (1867-1888) notes: "The old font is said to have been taken away when the church was re-pewed". Noted in the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (Essex, 1916-1923): "Font: circular Purbeck marble stem, 13th-century or earlier, rest modern." Betley & Pevsner (2007) write: "C13 circular stem with C19 corner pillars added to support a square bowl, prbably by White, 1871" [i.e., William White, architect in charge of the 1861 restoration of his church]. This ssame source dates the font cover to 1925. The RCHM (ibid.) inventories also a holy-water stoup of the 15th century in the S porch, E of the doorway [no separate entry in this Index]

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone
Font Shape: [cf. FontNotes]
Basin Interior Shape: [modern]
Basin Exterior Shape: [modern]

LID INFORMATION

Date: 1925
Material: wood
Notes: [cf. FontNotes]

REFERENCES

Benton, Philip, The History of Rochford Hundred, [together with...], Rochford: A. Harrington, 1867-1888
Bettley, James, Essex, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2007
Great Britain. Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, An Inventory of the historical monuments in Essex, London: H.M. Stationary Office, 1916-1923