Norton nr. Stockton / Northtune / Norton on Tees

Surtees (1823) reports that a "The font is now placed in a recess on the South of the altar" [NB: Surtees (ibid.) quotes from the parish registers an interesting set of directions from the then vicar regarding the arrangement of seating inside the church; among these, the vicar orders: "as for wome' servants, for to be placed to kneele down in the midle ally, nere the font", which suggests the location of the font at the time [the date of this particular quote appears to be from 3 January 1635. This same quote is cited in Longstaffe (1855), who also writes: "The old font having been removed to the vicar's gardens, a porcelainbasin was inserted in this arch, and was used for baptisms until it was lately supplanted by a handsome stone font in the appropriate place in the nave." Remains of a 17th- or 18th-century font are noted in Hodgson (1912). The Victoria County History (Durham, vol. 3, 1928) notes: "The church of St. Mary the Virgin [...] is of exceptional interest as affording the only example in Northumbria of a pre-Conquest church on the cross plan. Of this early structure— dating probably from the first half of the 11th century —the tower, transepts, and part of the nave walls remain. The aisles were added at the end of the 12th century [...] The font dates from 1851, and is of stone elaborately carved. " The VCH (ibid.) further notes: "Fragments of a former font of 17th or 18th century date are in the churchyard. See Trans. Dur. Arch. Soc. vi, 256, where a restoration is figured." Ryder (May 1996) [www.durham.anglican.org/userfiles/file/Durham%20Website/Diocese%20and%20Admin/Care%20of%20Churches/Archaeological%20Assessments/Norton.pdf] reports: "The present font, of 1851, is in an elaborate Romanesque style, and stands at the west end of the nave. A previous font was turned out of the church in 1823, and its remains later found in the vicarage grounds 1 (1864)); it had a fluted bowl. Hodgson (1912, drawing f.p.246) sees it as of 17th century date. In 1864 (Transactions of the Architectural & Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland I) ‘one half of the bowl, together with the base and much-decayed shaft, may be seen railed in at the north-east angle of the nave, in the churchyard’. The base now lies to the east of the south porch, but the remains of shaft and bowl were not located." The wooden cover of the modern font is shaped like a crown standing on arches with end pillars, and dates from 1916; it is raised and lowered by means a pulley. [NB: we have no information on the original font from the pre-Conquest church].