Taunton No. 2

Described and illustrated in Cottle (1845): "The font is of Hamdon Hill stone, and is raised upon two steps ; the lower one being octangular, and the upper one cruciform. The font itself is highly enriched ; the exterior of the basin has, on each face of the octagon, elaborate geometrical tracery." The font is an octagonal one with rich tracery decoration all over, and is topped by a very tall wooden cover of intricate work, with four volumes of it, plus a crcoketed pinnacle and complex finial atop. Both font and cover must date from the restoration of the church, which Cottle [cf. supra], vicar of this church at the time, describes in his book, as he states: "To other ladies of my parish I beg also to express my thankfulness for their munificent offerings to the church, of the richly-carved stone font". A font is reported by Jeboult (1873) in St. Mary Magdalene, Taunton, as "graceful", but without indication of date. Described in Pevsner (1958): "Of the familiar octagonal Perp[endicular] type but all the details a little more elaborate than usual." [NB: the font seen by all the above sources must be one and the same, and therefore a 19th-century replacement of the original -- we have no information on the replaced font]