Corfe nr. Taunton

Noted in Jeboult (1873): "The font is vey ancient." Wade & Wade (1929) report "a fine font bowl". Described in Pevsner (1958): "Circular, Norman, with interlaced arcading." Phil Draper illustrates the font [photograph of 11 March 2008 in Flickr [http://www.flickr.com/photos/churchcrawler/2327088133/] [accessed 15 March 2008] with the caption: "Entirely rebuilt neo-Norman of 1842, presumably to match the original font [...]" The original basin is almost cylindrical, tapering slightly towards the bottom; it is decorated with a blind arcade of round-headed intersecting arches, but here the sculptor has taken the license of inserting [at least one] plam-tree like motif in the place of a column, and introduced variations in the patterning of the arches themselves, some of which are decorated with a serrated pattern. Oddly enough the work is rather crude, the shafts of the columns irregular and the general level sloppy. The upper rim is damaged at several spots, one of which shows the metal staples that helped secure the old font cover; at some point in the past the decoration at the back of the basin was chiselled off, most likely to fit the font into a tight spot [unless there was a cross symbol or other such that might have exercised the ire of the Puritans?]. The basin is raised on a modern [cf. supra] five-support base and an octagonal plinth, also modern. The wooden font cover is flat a nd round, with metal decorations; appears modern [Victorian?].