Church fonts Derbyshire: Church relics reveal a font of information

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Author Richard Stone explores the fascinating history of fonts and uncovers a few which have enjoyed some rather bizarre uses.

The ruins of Eastwood Hall, near Ashover

The figure of a salamander coils around the base of Youlgrave's font

The ancient tub font of St Chad's, Church Wilne

The unusual font at All Saints Church, Youlgrave, with additional stoup

Scenes from the life of St Bertram decorate a Saxon font at Ilam

IT is a familiar scene, proud parents with family and friends gathered around a font, all eyes on the baby cradled in the vicar’s arms. Few parish churches are without a font, which is usually located just inside the doorway, symbolising spiritual, as well as physical, access.

Back in the 1230s, Archbishop of Canterbury Edmund Rich ordered: “There shall be a font of stone or other competent material in every church.” Stone is generally the material of choice but “other competent material” opens up other possibilities.

For instance, at All Saints’ Church, Ashover, a Norman font dating from the mid-12th century is a rare example of a stone basin encased entirely in lead.

The metal has been beautifully worked to show framed apostle figures encircling the bowl. Given Derbyshire’s long tradition of lead mining you would expect there to be others.

But, in fact, it is the only one in the county as far as I know and is lucky to have survived at all.

During the English Civil War, lead was scavenged from any available source to be melted down for musket shot. Rector Immanuel Bourne had the foresight to bury Ashover’s font in his garden at Eastwood Hall.

Disgruntled Parliamentary forces paid him back by devastating the building, though not without difficulty, as Bourne’s clerk, Wheatcroft recorded in verse: The Roundheads came down to Eastwood Hall,

And they tried it with mattocks and they tried it with ball.

And they tore up the lead work and splintered the wood,

But as firmly as ever the battlements stood.

Till a barrel of gunpowder at last did the thing,

And then they sang psalms for the fall of the King.

Bourne’s action kept the remarkable bowl safe but, in addition to blowing up the hall, All Saints’ Church was vandalised and the parish registers, in Latin and therefore considered Papist, were destroyed.

Before moving on, the Roundhead commander preached a sermon. Bourne scoffed: “Lord what stuff and nonsense he did talk, and if he could have murdered the King as easily as he did the King’s English, the war long since would have been over.”

Many parish churches had fonts long before Archbishop Rich’s edict. There are ancient fonts at Earl Sterndale (possibly Saxon); St Peter’s, Parwich (where a Norman bowl has a later stem); St Lawrence’s, Eyam; and a rare 11th-century font at St Leonard’s, Thorpe.

Almost certainly the oldest font in Derbyshire is in the secluded church of St Chad, at Church Wilne, moored on the flood plain between the rivers Derwent and Trent.

It is a simple tub that may date from the time when St Chad himself, appointed Bishop of Lichfield in 669, was preaching the gospel with missionary zeal across the Anglican kingdom of Mercia.

Though age-worn and fire damaged, an intricate carving of a dragon surrounded by birds and an interlace pattern remains visible.

Fonts mirror the age in which they were made. Naive carvings on a Saxon font just across the county boundary in Holy Cross Church, Ilam, show scenes from the life of St Bertram, whose shrine is nearby.

St Michael and St Mary Church, at Melbourne, has a model of unaffected early 13th-century simplicity. The font at St Oswald’s, Ashbourne, with its pointed moulding and restrained leaf motifs, is a consummate example of early Gothic.

As buildings became more decorated during the 14th and 15th centuries, eight-sided fonts, with elaborate tracery, became popular, reflecting changing architectural styles.

As fashions changed, some designs were considered antiquated. Old fonts were tossed aside or put to alternative uses.

A 12th century bowl from St Michael and All Angels, Taddington, was used for washing glasses in the Star Inn until it was rescued in 1939.

Decorators once used the font of St John the Baptist, Tideswell, as the parish paint pot.

In the years following the Reformation, many fonts were considered to have “inappropriate” imagery by those with strict Puritan views and they were destroyed.

An interesting 15th-century octagonal font at St John the Baptist Church, Chelmorton, is decorated with mysterious signs.

Among the more individual stylistic flourishes, a font at All Saints’ Church, Youlgreave, has an extra stoup, possibly intended for holy oil.

Beneath the projection, curving around the base of the bowl, is the sculpted figure of a salamander.

In ancient mythology, this legendary beast was reputed to be able to survive fire and so came to symbolise purification and virtue.

Originally the font belonged to neighbouring Elton. When the church there was renovated it was replaced. After a number of years as a garden feature, it was spotted and snapped up by an enterprising vicar of Youlgreave. Elton church now has a replica.

Youlgreave’s font is not the only one in Derbyshire with a salamander. A font at Holy Trinity, Ashford-in-the-Water, is similarly decorated and also spent some time as a garden ornament.

What to do with baptismal water was once a problem. Since it had been blessed, simply throwing it away was considered impious.

Left in the font, it soon became unhygienic and a danger to health. Archbishop Rich’s injunction included instructions that the water “...shall not be kept above seven days in the font”.

He also decreed fonts should be covered because consecrated water was a target for groups dabbling in dark arts. Simple wooden lids were introduced that could be secured by an iron bar padlocked between iron staples.

A 12th-century font in the chapel at Haddon Hall, that once served the parishioners of the now deserted mediaeval village of Nether Haddon, bears the scars of damage caused by fastenings hammered into the stone rim.

More elaborate heavy covers began to be introduced in the late 17th century. Some were so weighty that block and pulley tackle was needed to raise them.

These days, baptismal water is blessed on the day it is required.

Baptism has always been the rite of entrance to the Christian church. Early converts were baptised in rivers.

Since then, fonts in parish churches have welcomed countless generations. Until recent times, when a sprinkle was deemed sufficient, bowls were large enough to allow for the partial immersion of infants. In the mediaeval period, it was mainly adults who were baptised. Nowadays, christening of infants is the normal practice.

Communion has become the principal sacrament and the font has been relegated to something of a ritual prop, often barely noticed unless a baptism is taking place.

But it is not just the old, rare, unusual, or those with a chequered history that are of interest. Collectively and individually all our fonts have their own fascinating story to tell.

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