Draycott nr. Cheddar / Draicote

Described in Kelly's Directory of 1883: "a font, richly carved, having on its four sides figures in high relief, emblematic of Infancy, Youth, Manhood and Old Age, stands against the south door: it is of Caen stone, and rests on a polished granite column standing on a carved stone base". Wade & Wade (1929) note: "a modern church (note font)". Recently a font from this church has been announced for sale. Of particular interest, besides the issue of the sale itself, is the price set for the font: "A struggling Cheddar Valley church has won permission to sell it's treasured Victorian front to safeguard it's future. The font, designed by Victorian architect William Burges and currently residing in St Peter's Church, Draycott is being offered to museums for £110,000. The money will be used for repair and restoration works to the church, which could cost in the region of £170,000" [source: http://www.nepforums.co.uk/thisissomerset/printthread.php?Cat=&Board=CheddarNews&main=4985&type=thread] [accessed 2 March 2008]]. The news was posted on the BBC News website 20 November 2007 [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/7104365.stm] [accessed 9 March 2008]. Also in the Victorian Society [http://www.victorian-society.org.uk/news/7602/alarm_as_font_sale_gets_churchs_blessing.html] [accessed 12 November 2008]. The Heritage and History site [http://www.heritageandhistory.com/contents1a/2009/03/historic-font-to-remain-at-draycott/] [accessed 2 August 2009] announced on 26 March 2009: "Historic Font to Remain at Draycott [...] The Court of Arches decided that St Peter’s Church in Draycott was not facing a financial emergency and that allowing an important architectural feature to be sold to a private collector was unacceptable. The parish had applied for permission to sell the font from the church after being approached by a speculative buyer in 2006. The buyer offered £100,000 for the font, plus an additional £10,000 for a replica to take its place. Initially the Diocese of Bath and Wells ruled that the sale should be allowed but the Victorian Society appealed against the decision and the case was transferred to the Court of Arches [...] It is made up of a cream-coloured, fine-grained stone cap and base separated by a polished Purbeck Marble column. Each of the four sides of the top has a carved panel showing one of the four ages of man. Although there is some dispute about which church the font was originally intended for, it has stood in St Peter’s since the church’s consecration."