Modbury

There are three baptismal fonts at present in the the parish church of Modbury, information on which has been received from the parish: 1)The oldest one is of "octagonal shape and [the] shield design point to a late 15th century date; used for baptisms at Modbury until it was replaced in the 18th century; recovered from a Torbay garden, now sited outside the church." The font consists of an octagnal basin resting directly on its lower base, with the stem missing; some (?) of the sides show a quatrefoil-in-a-circle motif, and the source [cf. supra] mentions a shield on it; the upper rim has ben cut, probably for use as a trough in a garden or farm [NB: we are not certain whether this font was originally from Torbay -which lost its ancient font- or it was originally from Modbury. The church at Modbury, though it existed already in 1084, was re-built in the mid-15th century; this font may well be from that period] -- 2)a font consisting of a black veined marble octagonal basin raised on multi-coloured baluster-shape pedestal base; described by the source as "marble font of 18th century design in current use". -- 3)a stone font consisting of an octagnal basin mounted on a central shaft and eight outer colonnettes; the latter connect all the way to the upper rim and form eight lobe-like protrusions around the upper rim; on a round lower base; described in the source as "font moved from Brownston Chapel of ease". There is no mention of any font in Pevsner (1952).