Maddington in Shrewton

Baptismal font of the thirteenth century, illustrated in Buckler [ca. 1810?]; now disappeared [cf. infra]. The Wiltshire Community History pages [http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getchurch.php?id=742] [accessed 23 December 2008] note: "The church is first mentioned in 1179, when it is confirmed as belonging to Amesbury Priory, but it will have been founded some years before this". Buck (1951) writes: "This font, installed when the nave was restored and re-pewed in 1846, is almost a replica of the one in Wortham, near Diss, Norfolk" [actually, Suffolk]. Buck (ibid.) further notes: "According to records left by the late Rev, C. V. Goddard, Vicar 1895-1902 [...] the base of the present font is part of the previous one, a drwaing of which is in Buckler's collection; this shows it to have been a unique example of thirteenth-century work, with a wide octagonal bowl having plain vertical sides and moulded underside, mounted on a stout octagonal pedestal tapering downwards and having a plain round moulding on each of the vertical angles. Why it was turned out is not known, and its loss is the most regretted as Buckler's drawing shows it to have been in good condition. The Rev. C. V. Goddard, in his notes, says it was broken up." The Victoria County History (Wiltshire, vol. 15, 1995) notes: "Maddington church may have been held by Amesbury abbey and was confirmed to Amesbury priory in 1179. [...] The nave is narrow and may be contemporary with fragments of 12th-century stonework which survive in the church. [...] There are registers of baptisms [...] from 1652." There is no mention of a font in the VCH entry for this parish.