Butley

Noted in Parker (1855): "Font, P[erpendicular], with symbols of the Evangelists". Illustrated in Knott (2008), who writes: "The font is very well preserved, suspiciously so, and I think that the bowl, at least, has been recut. One of the shields bears the symbol of the Holy Trinity. This symbol seems to have often survived the iconoclasts of the 16th and 17th centuries, perhaps because they didn't understand it, and thought it heraldic. The Anglican reformers in particular left heraldic imagery alone, realising the role it played in keeping the local ordinary people in their place." The panels of the octagonal basin do not have the symbols of the Evangelists, as claimed in Parker above; four of the sides have seated lions, the other four (?) have demi-figures of angels holding charged shields, one of which is the emblem of the Trinity, as pointed out in Knott, who is probably right about the re-cutting on this font; the underbowl chamfer has angel heads at the angles; the octagonal-to-square pedestal base has the usual arrangement of seated lions and buttresses around it, typical of this font design. The wooden cover is octagonal and flat, probably modern.