FONTS, SAXON AND NORMAN
There were at one time many Saxon fonts, most of which were swept away and replaced in a different form by the Normans. One of the earliest we have is in St. Martin’s Church, Canterbury, the lower part of which, built of twenty-eight wedge-shaped stones, is Saxon or Romano-British, the upper part being Norman put on to heighten it, with the old Saxon rim crowning it, though by some this is called Transitional. This font was inside the church when King Ethelbert was baptised by St. Augustine in the ninth century. But we get back still further when we find runic inscriptions, as on the wonderful square tub font at Bridekirk, Cumberland, and on the little low hollowed stone at Bingley, Yorkshire, attributed to the eighth century, and having three lines of runes which are read thus:—
“Eadbert, King, ordered to hew this dipstone for us, pray you for his soul.” He reigned 737 to 758, when as Æthelred King of Mercia in 675, had done at Bardney Abbey in the previous century, he resigned the crown and took the tonsure. Mellor, in Derbyshire, has a Saxon font, but without inscription.
The remarkable font at Bag Enderby, Lincolnshire (see Chap. [XXX.]), with its Scandinavian myth, is unique among fonts, though it has counterparts on many of the pre-Norman crosses in Northumbria. The font at Deerhurst, Gloucestershire, is also a very early one, and covered with Celtic scroll-work, this, though of the same kind, is bigger than the usual plain little stone tubs which, as a rule, mark the Saxon period.
The Norman fonts also are mainly of tub form, but often ornamented with cable moulding and arcading, as at Silk Willoughby, Lincolnshire.
LINCOLNSHIRE FONTS
The lead fonts, twenty-nine of which are in existence, are all Norman; most of these have arcading all round and figures within the arches; perhaps the best is at Dorchester, Oxon, showing the apostles. But at Brookland, in Romney Marsh, there is a double row of arcading with the signs of the Zodiac above, and figures cleverly emblematic of the months below. At Childrey, Berks, the figures are without arcading and represent bishops with crosiers, all quaintly of the same attenuated shape, and in very high relief. Berkshire and Oxon have several of these lead fonts, and Gloucestershire exhibits six, all cast in the same mould; Lincolnshire has only one at Barnetby-le-Wold, which is noticeable, however, as being the largest of them all, thirty-two inches in diameter; that at Brookland being the deepest with sixteen inches.
The Tournai group of black marble or basalt with thick central pedestal and four corner shafts, of which that at Winchester is the best, are described under Lincoln, in Chap. [XIX.] This form of support is pretty general through the thirteenth century, often with much massive carving and ornamentation on bowl and shafts, until the shafts developed, in some cases, into an open arcade round the central pillar, as best seen at Barnack, Northants. The tallest fonts and finest in design are of the fifteenth century, and are mostly octagonal pedestal fonts and frequently mounted on steps as in the churches of the Marsh near Boston, e.g., Benington and Leverton. Some bowls are found with seven panels as at Hundleby, six as at Ewerby, Heckington and Sleaford, nine as at Orleton, in Herefordshire, and at Bigby, in Lincolnshire, thus giving eight panels for figures, and allowing one to be placed against a wall or pillar; and ten, twelve, fourteen, and sixteen are not unknown. In our own county we have mentioned the font in nearly every case when describing a church, and will only now recall a few instances of the best. In addition to the Tournai font at Thornton Curtis and that of lead at Barnetby, the finest specimens of Early English will be found at Thorpe St. Peter’s near Wainfleet—a very chaste design; the supporting shafts are gone, but the capitals show heads of bishop, king, and knight, and a knot of flowers supporting the bowl; and at Weston, near Spalding, where is one of singularly graceful form, standing on steps with a broad platform for the priest. At Thurlby, near Bourne, is a tub of Barnack stone which has pilasters all round it, and curious carved work dividing the panels, the whole being set on four square stone legs.
Of Decorated fonts, Ewerby is remarkable; hexagonal, with sides going straight down from the bowl, each panel representing a window with tracery, tending in design to Perpendicular, so that it probably dates from the end of the fourteenth century. The windows are filled with diaper work, and surrounded by a border of quatre-foils and flowing foliage. Other good Decorated fonts are at Strubby and Maltby-le-Marsh and Huttoft, all near Alford. The Perpendicular period is best seen at Covenham St. Mary, North Somercotes, Bourne, Pinchbeck, Leverton, and Benington.
It is on the panels of the handsome fifteenth century fonts that the seven sacraments are carved, leaving one panel for any appropriate subject, and these panels are often real pictures of the methods of the time, and form most valuable records; the pedestal usually has its panels filled with Apostolic figures.