Steeple Ashton

The Victoria County History (Wiltshire, vol. 8, 1965) notes: "A church at Steeple Ashton is first mentioned in 1252, in terms which imply that there had long been one in the village [...] The dedication is first recorded in 1281 [...] The tower is thought to be of the early 15th century [...] The font, which stands in the chapel south of the tower at the west end of the south aisle, formerly called the Beach chapel, was given by Richard Crawley, vicar 1828–69, in memory of his mother. [...] It replaced a hexagonal font with quatrefoil panels." The accompanying footnote in the VCH entry refers to "Soc. Antiq. Jackson MSS. Drawing of font." Noted in Pevsner & Cherry (1975): "Font. 1841; imitation Perp[endicular]." Octagonal baptismal font in a Victorian rendition of the Perpendicular style, even though the motifs and proportions are mostly those of the older period. Ditto the pyramidal wooden cover.