South Benfleet
INFORMATION
Font ID: 11896BEN
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 13th century [stem only] [composite font], Transitional / Early English [altered]
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Mary the Virgin
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Mary the Virgin
Church Notes: 12thC church
Church Address: 7 High Rd, South Benfleet, Benfleet SS7 5JP, United Kingdom -- Tel.: +44 7712 669298
Site Location: Essex, East, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located 10 km W of Southend-on-Sea, 50 lm E of central London
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Chelmsford
Additional Comments: altered font / restored font / recycled font: only the stem is original; rest modern
Font Notes:
Click to view
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. Font Notes
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, vol. 1: 77
- Bettley, James, Essex, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2007, p. 689
- Great Britain. Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, An Inventory of the historical monuments in Essex, London: H.M. Stationary Office, 1916-1923, vol. 4: 138