Hemel Hempstead / Hamelamestede / Hamele Hamstede / Hean-Hempsted / Hemehemsted / Hemelhempste / Hemstede / Henamsted

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Results: 8 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

view of basin - east side

Scene Description: the modern font

view of basin - north side

Scene Description: the modern font

view of basin - south side

Scene Description: the modern font

view of basin - west side

Scene Description: the modern font

view of church exterior - southeast view

Scene Description: Source caption: "Hemel Hempstead: St Mary's Church. Construction of the original Norman Church began in about 1140 and was completed around 1180. The spire, which is about 200 feet high, was added around 1340. The clock at the base of the spire was donated by the Earl of Marchmont in 1784. This is probably the finest complete Norman church in Hertfordshire" MOD FONT CNTXT digital photograph in the Parish web site [http://stmaryshemel.org.uk/ks2-7.jpg] [accessed 14 September 2016] NO KNOWN... MOD FONT1 AND 4SIDES digital photograph in the Parish web site [http://stmaryshemel.org.uk/vwfont.jpg] [accessed 14 September 2016] NO KNOWN…

Image Source: digital photograph taken 19 April 2007 by Nigel Cox [www.geograph.org.uk/photo/407742] [accessed 14 September 2016]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-2.0

view of church interior - plan

Scene Description: note the position of the modern font in the W end of the S aisle

Image Source: drawing in the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, Hertfordshire (1911)

Copyright Instructions: No known copyright restriction / Fair Dealing

view of font and cover - west side

Scene Description: the modern font

Image Source: digital photograph in the Parish web site [http://stmaryshemel.org.uk/vwfont.jpg] [accessed 14 September 2016]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-SA-3.0

view of font in context

Scene Description: the modern font

Image Source: digital photograph in the Parish web site [http://stmaryshemel.org.uk/ks2-7.jpg] [accessed 14 September 2016]

Copyright Instructions: No known copyright restriction / Fair Dealing

INFORMATION

FontID: 11953HEM

Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Mary

Church Patron Saints: St. Mary the Virgin

Church Location: High Street, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire HP1 3AH

Country Name: England

Location: Hertfordshire, East

Directions to Site: Located S of Luton, W of St. Albans, 40 km NW of London

Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of St. Albans

Historical Region: Hundred of Danish [in Domesday] -- Hundred of Dacorum

Century and Period: 11th - 12th century, Pre-Conquest? / Norman?

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

There is an entry for Hemel Hempstead [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TL0506/hemel-hempstead/] [accessed 13 September 2016], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. The Victoria County History (Hertfordshire, vol. 2, 1908) notes: "The tithe of the church of Hemel Hempstead was given by William, count of Mortain, to the church of St. Mary of Grestain, in Normandy, […] and therefore it is probable that the church formed part of the Conqueror's grant to Robert of Mortain, and accrued to the crown with the manor. […] With the exception of the porches, and the modern vestries on the north, the church retains its original ground plan unaltered, and is a fine and valuable example of a cruciform twelfth-century parish church, begun about 1140, and completed some forty years later. No evidence of any older building is to be seen. […] The font is modern, elborately carved in pseudo-12th-century style." Tyrrell-Green (1928) lists this as one of many square Norman fonts with scalloped lower basin side, and zigzag or chevron motif on the stem. The CRSBI entry for this church [www.crsbi.ac.uk/site/407/] [accessed 14 September 2016] does not mention the font at all. The Parish web site [http://stmaryshemel.org.uk/virtualwalkfont.htm] [accessed 14 September 2016], however, notes: "The font may originally have been Norman, but the carvings were added in the 19th Century." The claim that this font be a re-carving of a Norman original font appears to be unfounded; there is no part of it that gives any indication of an early dating; instead all indications point to a 19th-century date. [NB: we have no information on the original font of the 11th-12th century church here].

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 51.758959, -0.472832

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 51° 45′ 32.25″ N, 0° 28′ 22.19″ W

UTM: 30U 674409 5737251

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone

Font Shape: square (mounted)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: square

REFERENCES

Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. Accessed: 2006-07-06 00:00:00. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.

Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928