Brent Knoll No. 2 / South Brent nr. Burham-on-Sea

Noted and illustrated in cloud-front.net [8-the-north-aisle-211122.pdf] [accessed 30 April 2024]: "Amongst the other items to be noted in this aisle is something that was mentioned by Glynne: “an odd spiral shaft with octagonal capital and base having rather an Early English look and probably meant to support a statue. Near to it is the rood door.” Others have referred to it as a pedestal piscina, or “Pillar Piscina on a decorated shaft and with a scalloped top,” as Pevsner originally suggested, though the later Pevsner, re-edited and extended throughout by Julian Orbach, modifies this to a more accurate, “Pillar Piscina – On a spiral-mounted Norman column, with scalloped capital on a cable moulding.” The spiral decoration on the shaft is rather attractive and, above it, the capital is divided into an abacus. (flat upper stone), which would normally contain the piscina bowl, and a lower section, with a spiral moulding between this and the shaft. The lower section has the scalloped top, which is a typical development of the Norman period. However, I have some doubts about it being a piscina. Moving the metal object which now rests on it there is no bowl in the abacus, only small indentations, presumably meant to secure something which stood on it. Whilst that could have been a free-standing bowl, it does seem unlikely given the indentations. Perhaps, Glynne’s supposition that it was meant to support a statue does seem a more realistic choice." The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: ST3354050744] notes a "Reused Cll pillar piscina to North aisle." Listed and illustrated in the CRSBI entry [https://www.crsbi.ac.uk/view-item?i=3711] [accessed 30 April 2024]: "Pillar piscina [...] consists of a cylindrical cable-moulded shaft on a tall roll-hollow base that stands on a later polygonal plinth. The capital is a double-scallop type with very low cones and a high shield section and inscribed ornament in the form of trios of radiating lines on the pointed shields. There is some damage in this area caused by scratching. The cable necking connects with the similar decoration on the shaft but rotates in the opposite sense. On top of the capital is a heavy chamfered block (possibly a later addition) containing the bowl [...] The pillar piscina [...] is certainly 12thc work [but] The impost on the top and the plinth do not look contemporary with the piscina."