Bexhill / Bexelei / Bexhill-on-Sea

Harrison (1920) does not mention a font here, but notes: "Of the pre-Conquest building some work may still be in the nave walls." A brief history of the church by Stephen Werrett posted in the Parish website [www.stpetersbexhill.org.uk/history.htm] [accessed 20 February 2010] notes: "in the tower is our font, made of Derbyshire marble on a base of winkle, or “Sussex Marble”. This is an exact 19th century copy of the original Saxon font, whose well worn remains have long since vanished. The font cover includes carvings of fish and frogs." [NB: this 'exact copy' of a Saxon font is really a Victorian rendition of a 13th-century font design abundant in the south of England: an octagonal basin with pairs of pointed arch/windows on the sides, raised on a central shaft and eight outer colonnettes, and an octagonal lower base. The wooden cover is octagonal, of several volumes, the uppermost of which is a dome church; Victorian as well. -- If this modern font is a replica or copy of a previous one in this church, it would be of a 13th-century font].