York No. 29, Acomb / Achum / Acvm / Eboracum / Eburacum / Eburākon / Eoforwic / Everwic / Jórvík

INFORMATION

Font ID: 17241YOR
Object Type: Baptismal Font1?
Font Century and Period/Style: 10th - 11th century (?), Pre-Norman
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Stephen, York
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Stephen
Church Notes: remains of a church here possibly of the Anglo-Saxon period uncovered 1830; documented as a possession of York Minster by 1228; re-bult 1832
Site Location: North Yorkshire, Yorkshire and the Humber, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located off (N) the B1224, aka York Rd., bordering with Acomb, a suburb of York now
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of York
Historical Region: Hundred of Ainsty [in Domesday]
Additional Comments: disappeared font?
Font Notes:
There are two entries for Acomb [variant spellings] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SE5751/acomb/] [accessed 10 September 2025] neither of which mentions church or priest in it. The RCHM (York, 1962- ) notes a 12th-century church here, modified in the 15th and 19th centuries; no font is mentioned in it, so it is probably modern [NB: the church was ravaged by a fire caused by arson on 19 December 1992; it was reopened in September 1994; a view of the interior ca. 1831-1832 in the RCHM Ibid.) shows a Victorian font standing in the centre aisle of the nave, towards the back; the font consists of an octagonal basin with vertical decorated and chamfered sides, raised on clustered columns and a two-step lower base of plinthwe have no information on whether this 19th-century font survived the 1992 fire]

REFERENCES

  • Great Britain. Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the city of York, London: H.M. Stationary Office, 1962-, vol. 3: 37-38 and pl. 136