West Dean nr. Seaford / Dene

The Sussex Record Society site [www.sussexrecordsociety.org/jflistplacespics.asp?an=&ap=&Id=Westdean] [accessed 12 May 2013] reports a picture (?) of this font executed in 1777 by Lady Burrell, Sophia (1752-1802) in the British Library, London [ref.: Add. MS. 5697, f.323v]. Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Decorated period. The font is noted in Walker (1908) as being from the Norman period. Peat & Halsted (1912) however, dated to the Perpendicular period. Harrison (1920) notes: "The plain font is early work of this style [i.e., Decorated]; the stoup and two canopied tombs are also Dec[orated]". Noted with the same date in Drummond-Roberts (1935). The Victoria County History (Sussex, vol. 4, 1953) notes: "The church of West Dean was given with that of Singleton [...] to the Cathedral of Chichester by the Earl of Arundel in 1150, and it has ever since remained in the hands of the Dean and Chapter of Chichester. [...] The 11th-century church consisted of nave and chancel, the latter on the site of the present crossing, east of this a new chancel was built in the 13th century, one or both transepts and the tower were added in the 18th, and the vestry late in the 19th. [...] All fittings are modern." Described and illustrated in the CRSBI (2008): "The lower part of the square bowl is chamfered and shaped to form polygonal corner capitals. It has a circular lead-lined basin. There are various repairs on the rim, and there is a crack on the N side. The bowl stands on a circular central column and four octagonal angle shafts. The bases of the columns are aligned with the chamfer at the top of the plinth and have spurs. The plinth is mounted on a second square plinth. [...] While Walker thought that this was a Norman font, Drummond-Roberts believed it to be early Dec, and Peat and Halsted described it as 'Perpendicular' [cf. supra]. The church guide describes it as 'Early English Decorated' belonging to the first quarter of the 14th century. It is unlikely to be Norman, but included on the off-chance." There is damage on one of the angles of the basin, a large cracked area that has been repaired. Modern font cover. [NB: we have no information on the font of the original Norman church here].