London No. 49 / Queenhithe / Queenhythe / Cornhithe

Noted in Allen (1839?): "beneath the gallery is the font in a ballustrade; it is a handsome octangular basin of statuary marble, enriched with four cherubic heads, and the outer surface nearly covered with flowers and fruit in relief; the cover is oak." The August 1882 issue of The Antiquary (p.55ff) [http://books.google.ca/books?id=aW2ByXdMKFMC&pg=PA178&lpg=PA178&dq=gillamoor+church+font&source=web&ots=BZ9hUOLG9v&sig=u8DunbQ37OyYjMM2J57gReIl5JM&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=8&ct=result#PPA56,M1] [accessed 13 July 2008] reports of a Loan Exhbition of Ancient Wrought Iron Work held at the house of Messrs. Gardner, in West Strand, London, in that year. Among the objects displayed was ''an iron bracket with pulley and chain for the purpose of raising the cover taken from the destroyed church of St. Michael, Queenhithe.'' Blatch (1995) notes that some of St. Michael's furnishings were moved to other churches before the 1875 demolition of St. Michael's [e.g., the pulpit and stalls went to St. James' Garlickhythe], but there is no indication given of the whereabouts of the font and cover. St. Michael's Queenhithe was originally Saxon, later re-built by the Normans, and went through many more changes, as would be expected of a City church, but the only font so far noted for Queenhithe is the one mentioned in Allen & Wright (1839), obviously a late one: ''beneath the [west] gallery is the font in a ballustrade; it is a handsome octangular basin of statuary marble, enriched with four cherubic heads, and the outer surface nearly covered with flowers and fruit in relief; the cover is oak.'' [NB: the raising pulley mechanism is not mentioned -- the architect of the church was Christopher Wren, so the font described here could date from that time]