Patney

There is a 1807 watercolour of this font by John Buckler (1770-1851). Buck (1951) writes of the font at Patney: "Similar to that of Stockton, and over the junction of the scallops is a curl ornament." Buck (1951) further remarks that the "upcurving leaves" on the bowls of the Yatesbury and Patney fonts "are a feature of the Western Cistercian style", an association that Buck (ibid.) refers to F. H. Crossley in his 'English Church Craftmanship'. Noted in Pevsner & Cherry (1975): "Font. Circular; only the base is E[arly] E[nglish]." [NB: these two descriptions pose a dating problem, especially in the present circumstances, as the Church of St. Swithin has been a private residence since 1997 -- Did Pevsner see the same font as Buck? -- We have no information on the present whereabouts of this baptismal font]. The Victoria County History (Wiltshire, vol. 11, 1980) notes: "In the 12th century the advowson of Patney church belonged to the prior and monks of St. Swithun's, Winchester [...] The church was valued at £5 in 1291. [...] In the period 1876–8 the church was partly rebuilt and was thoroughly restored as an exact copy of the original by Henry Weaver of Devizes. [...] Weaver also removed the west gallery, added the north vestry, and largely refitted the church, [...] which in 1976, however, retained a 12th-century font, 14th-century piscena, and earlier-17th-century pulpit." The Birish Listed Buildings database [www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-311598-church-of-st-swithin-patney] [accessed 27 January 2012] notes: "Font, C19, a tub with running guilloche around base, a short column and C13 round spurred base", which does not mention the possibility that the font may be the old one now altered.