Newminster Abbey

INFORMATION

FontID: 15935NEW
Church/Chapel: Abbey Church of St. Mary
Church Patron Saints: St. Mary the Virgin
Country Name: England
Location: Northumberland, North East
Directions to Site: Located 1-2 km W of Morpeth
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Carlisle
Font Location in Church: [cf. FontNotes]
Date: ca. 1137?
Century and Period: 12th century, Norman
Cognate Fonts: the font at St. Peter in the East, Oxford [cf. FontNotes]
The discovery of a baptismal font in this abbey church , notes Gibson (1848), was reported by Mr. Grose in The Gentleman's Magazine (vol. xlv, p. 13) {NB: we have searched all of vol. xlv and have not found this text]. Gibson (ibid.) notes: "Mr. Grose, shortly before 1775, found at the site of Newminster a very antient font, one belonging to the abbey church of S. Mary there, resembling the antient Norman font of S. Peter in the East, Oxford. At the time when Mr. Grose saw this relic, it was thrown into the road." Gibson's text is footnoted: "A print of the extremely antient font at S. Peter's at Oxford, is given in the 1st vol. of 'Lelland's Collectanea', edit. of 1770, p. 29. The figures of the twelve Apostles are sculptured in niches beneath an arcade which surrounds it. See a notice of the discovery of the Newminster font, by Mr. Grose, in Gent. Mag. vol. xlv, p. 13." [cf. supra]

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone
Font Shape: tub-shaped
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: round

REFERENCES

Gibson, William Sidney, Descriptive and historical notices of some remarkable Northumbrian castles, churches, and antiquities: in a series of visits […] First series, London; Newcastle-upon-Tyne: William Pickering; Robert Robinson, 1848