Kessel nr. Goch / Kessele

The Klever Heimatbund - Volksfreund 1925 informs of the remains of an old baptismal font from the 13th century being built into a wall of the sacristy, a basin made of bluestone with four heads. Werner Stalder's article Die RP berichtet in einer losen Folge über Taufsteine in Kirchen des Nordkreises Kleve. Der Taufstein in St.-Stephanus Kessel hat eine bewegende Geschichte, in the RP.Online edition of 11 October 2019 [https://rp-online.de/nrw/staedte/kleve/die-taufbecken-im-nordkreis-heisst-die-neue-rp-serie_aid-46403473?output=webview] [accessed 1 February 2022] informs of that early reference and of the rest of the 'moving' history of the font: In the 13th century, Kessel owned a chapel with parish rights, the patronage of which was transferred to the Graefenthal monastery in 1225. Like today's parish church, the chapel was consecrated to St. Stephen. A new church was built in the 15th century. During the renovation work in the sacristy, the old Romanesque baptismal font was discovered (around 1960), which was built into the sacristy wall as a water drain. It was impossible to tell exactly how far it was preserved. However, the pastor at the time, Aloys Schrey, intended to remove the baptismal font from the wall and put it back in the church. This emerges from a letter dated September 16, 1960 from the regional building councilor Cornelius to the master stonemason Ludwig Kreusch from Emmerich, Bauhütte St. Aldegundis. It says: The stonemason should endeavor to remove the baptismal font from the wall and contact Pastor Schrey. When it was uncovered around 1963, it was found that it was a Romanesque baptismal font of the Namur type, which had probably served as the first baptismal font of the St. Stephen parish. Unfortunately, the foot of the basin was lost. Another letter from Pastor Schrey to the regional building councilor shows that the pastor applied for a grant from state funds for the restoration work and the installation of the old baptismal font in the parish church in Kessel. The letter also says: After a supplementary drawing for the foot made by Ludwig Kreusch, the baptismal font was removed from the sacristy, restored and a new sandstone foot was added. On the advice of the regional building councilor, it should be set up in the tower area of ​​the church. The baptismal water container with the baroque lid of the earlier baptismal font from the church (from around 1900) fits exactly into the opening of the restored baptismal font and thus formed a worthy conclusion to the story. The cost of removing, restoring, adding the foot and setting up the baptismal font was DM 2,317.50. Since financing such an amount was very difficult for a small community like Kessel (around 1,000 souls at the time), Pastor Schrey applied for an appropriate grant State funds. As already mentioned, the baptismal font dates from the first half of the 13th century and is the oldest piece of furniture in the Kesseler church. It was made of bluestone and the basin is 37 cm high. Four heads protrude on the four sides so that the font looks like square. A round arch frieze runs between the heads. The new foot is made of sandstone. Five pillars stand on a square base. A large column stands in the middle, four smaller columns each stand on the corners of the base and thus surround the large column. The baptismal font lid is made of brass and has a diameter of 60 cm. It comes from the 2nd half of the 17th century. On the flat edge of the lid you can find angel heads between acanthus leaves. The lid rises towards the middle.