West Dean nr. Seaford / Dene
Image copyright © Mark Collins, 2004
Standing permission
Results: 7 records
view of font and cover
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Mark Collins, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph taken 18 October 2004 by Mark Collins [www.roughwood.net/ChurchAlbum/EastSussex/WestDean/WestDeanAllSaints2004.htm] [accessed 12 May 2013]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of church exterior - southwest view
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Mark Collins, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph taken 18 October 2004 by Mark Collins [www.roughwood.net/ChurchAlbum/EastSussex/WestDean/WestDeanAllSaints2004.htm] [accessed 12 May 2013]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of church exterior - southeast view
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Mark Collins, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph taken 18 October 2004 by Mark Collins [www.roughwood.net/ChurchAlbum/EastSussex/WestDean/WestDeanAllSaints2004.htm] [accessed 12 May 2013]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of church interior - piscina
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Mark Collins, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph taken 18 October 2004 by Mark Collins [www.roughwood.net/ChurchAlbum/EastSussex/WestDean/WestDeanAllSaints2004.htm] [accessed 12 May 2013]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of church interior - west end - detail
Scene Description: the tower arch and west doorway
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Mark Collins, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph taken 18 October 2004 by Mark Collins [www.roughwood.net/ChurchAlbum/EastSussex/WestDean/WestDeanAllSaints2004.htm] [accessed 12 May 2013]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of church interior - nave - looking east
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © Mark Collins, 2004
Image Source: digital photograph taken 18 October 2004 by Mark Collins [www.roughwood.net/ChurchAlbum/EastSussex/WestDean/WestDeanAllSaints2004.htm] [accessed 12 May 2013]
Copyright Instructions: Standing permission
view of font
Copyright Statement: Image copyright © CRSBI, 2008
Image Source: B&W photograph in the CRSBI [www.crsbi.ac.uk/search/county/site/ed-sx-wdean.html] [accessed 12 May 2013]
Copyright Instructions: PERMISSION NOT AVAILABLE -- IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE
INFORMATION
Font ID: 18266DEA
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Font Century and Period/Style: 13th - 14th century, Medieval
Cognate Fonts: the font at Alfriston (ESussex)
Church / Chapel Name: Parish Church of All Saints
Font Location in Church: Inside the church, at the W end of the nave
Church Patron Saint(s): All Saints
Church Address: West Dean, Seaford, East Sussex BN25 4AL -- Tel.: 01323 870376
Site Location: East Sussex, South East, England, United Kingdom
Directions to Site: Located off the A259, in the Friston Forest, 5 km from Seaford, in the South Downs
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocese of Chichester
Additional Comments: disappeared font? (the one from the Norman church here) -- damaged font: the current one [cf. FontNotes]
Font Notes:
Click to view
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].
Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Mark Collins, of the Roughwood British Churches Album [www.roughwood.net/ChurchAlbum] for his photographs of this church and font
COORDINATES
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 50° 46′ 35.65″ N, 0° 9′ 41.27″ E
MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS
Material: stone, limestone?
Font Shape: square, mounted
Basin Interior Shape: round
Basin Exterior Shape: square
Drainage Notes: lead-lined
Basin Total Height: 45 cm* [includes capitals on the underbowl]
Font Height (less Plinth): 91.5 cm*
Font Height (with Plinth): 100.8 cm*
Trapezoidal Basin: 70 x 70 cm*
Notes on Measurements: * [CRSBI (2008)]
LID INFORMATION
Date: modern
Material: wood
Apparatus: no
Notes: square platform with large raised Latin cross finial; modern
REFERENCES
- Victoria County History [online], University of London, 1993-. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk.
- 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. 253
- Drummond-Roberts, Maud F., Some Sussex fonts, photographed and described, Brighton: Southern Publishing Co., 1935, p. 97
- Harrison, Frederick, Notes on Sussex churches, Hove: Combridges, 1920, p. 100
- Peat, Alfred H., Churches and other antiquities of West Sussex, Chichester: J.W. Moore, 1912, p. 69ff
- Walker, A.K., An introduction to the study of English fonts, with details of those in Sussex, 1908, p. 102-103