Limpley Stoke

Lewis (1876) writes: "The font is very plain and ugly, and the churchwarden's accounts which I have had an opportunity of examining, show that this, together with the reding-desk and pulpit were obtained at what archaeologists will esteem a very dear price. It appears that to meet the expense of these additions and other purchases made in the same year, the churchwardens removed two bells from the campanile and sold them!". The accompanying entry from the accounts books for 1787 shows two references to the font. One is for March 22 and it shows £12 1s. 3d. "paid William Hurrdlefor the pulpit and reading desk and the top for the font and stocks" [i.e., the font cover, probably], and the 26th of the same month "paid mr. sumsion for the font £1 14s. 4 1/2d." Lewis (ibid.) further notes that a similar font to the modern one here existed at Winsley [cf. Index entry], but that the latter was replaced when the earlier font at that church was found and restored to the church there. Pevsner (1975) notes: "C18 pedestal font in the south aisle" [NB: the font is not mentioned in Pevsner's North Somerset and Bristol volume, although Pevsner has an entry for this church int it]. The Parish site [http://www.limpleystoke.org/] [accessed 8 June 2008], however, states: "The first recorded baptisms in Limpley Stoke were in 1611. It was traditional for the font to be placed by the door of the church as a symbol of baptism, being the start on the road to Christian faith, and until 1921 it stood by the north door. However, with the building of the South Aisle, it was removed to the rear of the church by the vestry door (the marks may still be seen there), and was subsequently repositioned again in 1976 to where it now stands. The pedestal is believed to be Jacobean, and the bowl very much older - probably Saxon." The claim of antiquity for the small hemispherical basin is groundless; it appears to be perfectly suited for the simple baluster pedestal base, and the whole is probably 18th-century. [NB: there are a few remains of the old Saxon building, but we have no information of the earlier font(s) of this church]