The Baptistery in Luton Church.
Photograph Fredk. Thurston, F.R.P.S.
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The font, as we have seen, was originally placed in a separate building called the baptistery.The Font. The only known example of anything of the kind in England is that in S. Mary's Church, Luton, fully described in The Homeland Handbook, No. 47. It is in the Decorated style, dates from the time of Edward III., and is said to have been designed by William of Wykeham for Queen Philippa. It is composed of white stone with open panels, pierced by cinquefoils and quatrefoils, while the apex of each panel terminates in a foliated finial. The font inside is octagonal in form and of 13th century date, but it has been somewhat restored. Ancient fonts were always large enough to allow for total immersion, and our present custom of baptism by affusion, or sprinkling, is only permitted, not enjoined by the rubric. In early days the sacrament of baptism was only administered by the bishops at the great festivals of Pentecost and Easter, for the reason that this afforded the greater convenience for immediate confirmation, but with the increase in the number of churches the rite was administered by the priests in every village.

The font was required by the canon to be of stone, but there are a few Norman fonts made of lead, among them those at S. Mary's Church, Wareham, Walton-on-the-Hill, Surrey, and at Edburton, Parham, and Pyecombe, Sussex. A remarkable font is that at Dolton Church, Devon, made up of fragments of the churchyard cross, and there is also a somewhat similar one at Melbury Bubb, Dorset. By a constitution of Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury (1236), fonts were required to be covered and locked, and at first these covers were little more than plain lids, but they afterwards became highly ornamental and were enriched with buttresses, pinnacles, crockets, etc. It is doubtful if any fonts exist which can reasonably be supposed to be Saxon, although a few, like that at Little Billing, Northants, may possibly be of that era. Of Norman fonts we have large numbers. They are sometimes plain hollow cylinders; others are massive squares with a large pillar in the centre, and small shafts at the corners. These fonts are generally ornamented with rudely executed carvings, consisting of foliage and grotesque animals.

An Example of a Leaden Font of the late Norman period.
Walton-on-the-Hill, Surrey
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The one in Winchester Cathedral is a good example, and there are three other very similar ones in Hampshire. Early English fonts are very often circular, and sometimes square, and they are often supported in much the same way as the Norman ones. In the Decorated and Perpendicular styles they are, with few exceptions, octagonal, and the details generally partake of the character of those used in the other architectural features of the period. There are hexagonal fonts of Decorated date at Rolvenden, Kent, and Heckington, Lincs. The font is usually placed close to a pillar near the entrance, generally that nearest but one to the tower in the south arcade, or, in larger buildings, in the middle of the nave.

Stoups.

The holy-water stoups sometimes found in our old churches are generally small niches with stone basins formed in the wall either in or just outside the porch, or within the church close to the door, or in one of the pillars nearest to the door. These niches resemble piscinas, except that they differ in situation, are smaller and plainer, and rarely have a drain. A good example of an outside stoup is that at Broadmayne, Dorset, where there is also one inside the church. They are rarely found unmutilated, but there is one in perfect condition in the north porch of Thornham Church, Kent; and a rather elaborate example at Pylle Church, near Glastonbury.

A Reputed Saxon Font.
Shaldon, Devon.

The piscina is a water-drain formerly placed near the altar and consisting of a shallow stone basin, or sink, with a drain to carry off whatever is poured into it. It was used to receive the water in which the priest washed his hands, as well as for that with which the chalice was rinsed at the celebration of the mass. It was usually placed within a niche, although the basin often projects from the face of the wall, and is sometimes supported on a shaft rising from the floor. In the Early English and Decorated periods there are often two basins and two drains, and occasionally three. Within the niche a wooden or stone shelf is often found, called a credence-table, on which the sacred vessels were placed previous to their being required at the altar.