Wouldham / Oldeham

INFORMATION

Font ID: 12346WOU
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 12th century, Norman
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of All Saints, Wouldham
Font Location in Church: Inside the church
Church Patron Saint(s): All Saints
Church Address: High St, Wouldham, Rochester ME1 3TD, United Kingdom -- Tel.: +44 7964 697556
Site Location: Kent, South East, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located off (E) the A228, on the E bank of the Medway river, N of Aylesford, 5 km SSW of Rochester
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Canterbury
Historical Region: Hundred of Larkfield [in Domesday]
Additional Comments: disappeared font? (the one from the Domesday-time church here)
Font Notes:
There is an entry for Wouldham [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ7164/wouldham/] [accessed 30 June 2025]; it reports a church in it. Lewis' Dictionary of 1848 reports "a Norman font" in this church. Not mentioned in Glynne (1877). Torr (1930) writes: "Of Norman date, the fonts at [...] Higham, West Peckham and Woudham [...] may serve as examples of the [...] plain type". The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: TQ7132164366] notes: "Church. Cll, c.1200, C13, C14, C15" but mentions no font in it.

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone
Font Shape: square, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: square

REFERENCES

  • Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England, Comprising the Several Counties, Cities, Boroughs, Corporate and Market Towns, Parishes, Chapelries, and Townships, and the Islands of Guernsy, Jersey, and Man, with Historical and Statistical Descriptions [...], London: S. Lewis, 1831, [www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=51432] [accessed 22 March 2007]
  • Torr, V.J., "Aldington font", 42 (1930), 223-224, Archaeologia Cantiana, 1930