De Lier / De Leer

The present font in use in this church is a small brass basin of the Reformation style of font; it is attached to the pulpit side, as many of them are. In a communication to BSI (e-mail of 21 December 2021) Pol Herman refers to a Bulletin van den Nederlandschen Oudheidkundigen Bond — Tweede serie maart/april 1914, zevende jaargang, where it is reported that Bishop Otto of Utrecht sent to a number of believers in 1245 that they had asked permission to found a chapel somewhere northwest of what is now Maasland. The bishop grants a chapel with baptismal font to those who live east of the Lier to the Maas, and from the Burgerscede (presumably the Scheiwatering) to the parish of Naaldwijk, and for whom the visit to the mother church Maasland is objectionable. and build a cemetery. After many historical vicissitudes a new Late Gothic cruciform church built in the middle of the 15th century but a fatal lightning strike on July 3, 1572 reduced the church to ashes. The rebuilding of the church was completed in May 1659, which is the date of the present brass font [NB: we have no information on the baptismal font of the mid-13th century church here].