Otley nr. Ipswich No. 2

Knott (2008) writes: "the font is handsome, but has been well and truly vandalised. This was probably done by the Anglican reformers of the 1540s, a hundred years before the arrival of Dowsing, who also gave this church a very thorough seeing to. He doesn't mention the font, but tells us that his enthusiastic deputy, Thomas Denny, not only wrecked the twenty angels on the roof beams and the gable cross on the chancel, but 2 brasses and 50 stained glass windows. He also mentions wrecking pictures of Moses and Aaron, which probably flanked the decalogue, as in the later ones at Chediston and Somersham." The font is of a common type in East Anglia: the sides of the octagonal basin are decorated with demi-angels holding shields alternating with seated lions gardant; the undebowl has a cherub at each angle, a flower on each side below; the octagonal-to-square pedestal base has a seated lion at each angle, alternating with thin buttresses on the sides; the quadrangular plinth appears modern, as does the flat octagonal cover topped with a Latin cross finial. As Knott indicates above, the font is rather battered, with the faces of the angels and cherubs smashed, and even the lions of the base having suffered similar fate; the large damaged area of the north side of the basin, however, may have been caused by the metal staple of the old cover, a common damage spot on medieval stone fonts.