Hoogwoud / Hoechhoutswouder / Hogherswoude / Hougwoud

Moulin (1842) reports fragments of a font in Hoogwoud. Aa (1844) reports that an antiquarian had at one time offered 150 guilders for this baptismal font but the authorities forbade the sale [="Voor de doopvont te Hoogwoud is door eenen liefhebber van oudheden honderd vijftig gulden geboden, doch op hoog bevel mag die niet verkocht worden"]. It is not known when the offer was made but there is photographic evidence that this font was in a very poor condition in 1940, the badly broken basin kept together in a metal frame, the stem missing a good part of its top; a restoration of sorts must have been done soon thereafter, as the font was again photograph in 1949 and shows it had been reconstructed; the church itself underwent a major restoration in 1966-1967, at which time the font itself must have been restored once more, as a photograph of the font taken in August 1967 shows the font totally restored [cf. Images area]. It consists of an octagonal basin with a pronounced flat moulding at the upper rim, with four human heads protruding at alternate sides; raised on an octagonal pedestal base, and a lower base of the same shape adorned with a moulding at the top, and four stops that make it square at the bottom. In 1967 it appears with a modern metal cover of low-dome shape, and a Chi-Ro finial. The font is also noted in Eyck (1846), who reports a local tradition that attributes great logevity to this font claiming the king Radbout had ben baptised in it by bishop Wulfram in the 8th century; Eyck (ibid.) himself dates towards the 14th century.