Whickham / Quicham / Quykham

Noted in Mackenzie (1834): "The font is an old bason of Stanhope marble". The font is noted in an article by W. Hylton Dyer Longstaffe, in Archaeologia Aelliana (vol. VI, 1865: 65): "The font is ancient, but not deserving of any particular remark". The St. Mary The Virgin, Parish Church Of Whickham: History Of St. Mary's entry (reproduced from a pamphlet compiled by James W. F. Madden, 1999) [http://www.stmaryswhickham.org.uk/history03.html] [accessed 3 December 2009] notes: "The ancient font is made of Frosterley marble, lead lined, with a drain hole to empty the water of baptism into consecrated ground. The font still has the remains of the staples for the securing of the font cover". This same source notes the first reference to a churchyard in Whickham to 1220. A recent photograph of this font can be viewed at http://www.flickr.com/photos/lpmcc/2976591996/ [accessed 3 December 2009]. The font consists of a roughly hemispherical basin decorated with a simple moulding at the upper rim, raised on a plain cylindrical stem of the same material; on a modern two-step octagonal plinth.