Rycote Liberty / Rycote Chapel / Rycott

The Ecclesiastical and Architectural Topography of England: Oxfordshire (1850) notes: "The font is octagon, panelled, with the original wooden cover." Lee (1883) notes: "The font, of third-pointed work, is at the west end". Noted in Kelly's Oxford Directory of 1911 as a Perpendicular font [NB: since the church itself was built by Richard Quartremayne [aka, Quatremain] in 1449, according to Kelly's (ibid.), the font is likely of that date]. In Sherwood & Pevsner (1974): "Cup-shaped, probably a C12 tub font re-cut. The panelled base and ogee ribbed cover are C15." A font-cover in Rycote church is noted and illustrated in Howard & Crossley (1919). A recent photograph of this font and cover in the context of the interior of the chapel can be found in Flickr [www.flickr.com/photos/41621108@N00/4793193104/in/faves-vitrearum/] [accessed 13 November 2011]. The font is located on the south side of the nave, at the west end of the chapel, beneath the gallery; the font consists of a rounded basin of plain tapering sides, raised on a polygonal pedestal base with panelled sides and a moulded lowe base. On it is the wooden cover noted above. [NB: the chapel is mid-15th century, so, if the font basin is 12th-century, it must have been moved in from an earlier church in the neighbourhood].