South Molton No. 1 / Southmolton

INFORMATION

FontID: 17806MOL
Church/Chapel: Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene
Church Patron Saints: St. Mary Magdalene
Church Location: North Street, South Molton, Devon EX36 3BW
Country Name: England
Location: Devon, South West
Directions to Site: Located at the junction of the B3226 and the B3227, just off the A361, about 15 km EES of Barnstaple
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Exeter
Font Location in Church: [cf. FontNotes]
Century and Period: 11th - 12th century, Norman
The National Gazetteer... of 1868 reports "an ancient circular font" in this church [NB: this is odd because the font at the time was octagonal, of the 15th century, and the fragments of the older font had just been extricated a few years earlier from the demolished south porch -- cf. infra]. Hussell (1910) writes: "When the 15th century south porch was taken down in 1865, parts of a Norman font -complete but one stone- were found built into the walls. This was probably the font from the former church, broken up and used in this way". Cox & Harvey (1907), too, list a baptismal font of the Norman period in this church. The CRSBI (2008) gathers information for several sources that favour the existence of a workshop in Dorset ca. 1150 responsible for the manufacture of the fonts at Torrington, Bishop's Teignton, Honiton, South Molton, Dun[kes?]well, Luppitt and Blackhawton. [NB: the sources are not clear as to what happened to the fragments of the old font after it was retrieved from the south porch walls in 1865].

COORDINATES

UTM: 30U 441785 5652377

REFERENCES

Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland, The Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland. Accessed: 2011-12-20 00:00:00. URL: http://www.crsbi.ac.uk.
Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907
Hussell, Allen T., North Devon Churches: Studies of some of the ancient buildings, Barnstaple: Printed at the 'Herald' Press, 1910