Wetwang

FontID: 13082WET

Object Type: Baptismal Font1

Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Michael [originally St. Nicholas -- cf. ChurchNotes]

Church Patron Saints: St. Nicholas of Myra [cf. ChurchNotes]

Country Name: England

Location: East Riding of Yorkshire, Yorkshire and the Humber

Directions to Site: Located on the A166, 11-12 km W of Driffield

Font Location in Church: Inside the church, in the W end of the nave

Century and Period: 12th century (late?), Norman

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Colin Hinson, of www.yorkshireCDbooks.com, for his photographs of church and font.

Church Notes: Noted in Bulmer's History and Directory of East Yorkshire (1892) [2007 transcription by Colin Hinson in http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/ERY/Wetwang/Wetwang92.html [accessed 4 September 2007]: "The church is an ancient stone building, consisting of chancel, nave with north aisle and transept, south porch, and an embattled western tower, dating from the Norman era. Though usually called St. Michael's, the original dedication was, according to Canon Raine, St. Nicholas, and this is corroborated by an inscription, evidently of pre-reformation date, on one of the two bells in the tower, "Sancte Nickola, ora pro nobis." The tower is a portion of the original structure, the rest of the fabric having been rebuilt in the Perpendicular style early in the fifteenth century. The church was thoroughly restored in 1845, at a cost of about £1,500, which was raised by subscription and church rate. The chancel was partially rebuilt at the expense of Sir Tatton Sykes; the nave, aisle, and transept were repaired, and the walls and roofs raised, and the south porch added. The chancel arch is low and plain, and an arcade of five pointed arches, springing from circular and octagonal columns, divides the nave from the aisle and transept. The latter was a chapel in catholic times as shown by the piscina which still remains, and in later days was used for the parish school. The east window, a memorial of Mary Ann, Lady Sykes, who died in 1861, was inserted by the parishioners. The chancel is neatly furnished with oak stalls, enriched with carved poppy heads, and the nave and transept with high-backed seats of painted wood. The pulpit is of stone, supported on an octagonal pier, and finely carved. On the walls of the chancel are two marble tablets; one is a memorial of Thomas Wilberfoss, Esq., of this parish, who died in 1830. He was descended from an ancient family of that name, long seated at Wilberfoss, in this county, and succeeded to the estate here on the death of Mr. Thomas Wharram, his maternal uncle. The other tablet is inscribed to the memory of the Rev. Rowland Croxton, M.A., who died in 1833, after having held the vicarage 45 years. The church will seat 300. The registers date from 1653."

Font Notes: Click to view

Material: stone

Font Shape: cylindrical (mounted)

Basin Interior Shape: round

Basin Exterior Shape: round

Drainage Notes: lead lining

Date: modern?

Material: wood

Apparatus: no

Notes: [cf. FontNotes]