South Molton No. 1 / Southmolton

INFORMATION

Font ID: 17806MOL
Object Type: Baptismal Font1, fragment
Font Century and Period/Style: 11th - 12th century, Norman
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of St. Mary Magdalene
Font Location in Church: [cf. FontNotes]
Church Patron Saint(s): St. Mary Magdalene
Church Address: North Street, South Molton, Devon EX36 3BW
Site Location: Devon, South West, England, United Kingdom
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
Additional Comments: broken up font / buried font / re-cycled font (built into the wall of the south porch) MUST USE -- e-mail sent to Devon Parish Council site and to the vicar requesting information (20 Dec 2011)
Font Notes:
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. URL: http://www.crsbi.ac.uk.
  • Cox, John Charles, English Church Furniture, New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1907, p. 196
  • Hussell, Allen T., North Devon Churches: Studies of some of the ancient buildings, Barnstaple: Printed at the 'Herald' Press, 1910, p. 67