Church Fonts

By Matthew Byrne

The font is perhaps the most important part of any church. For centuries, no infant in the parish was thought to be saved from damnation until christened and fonts, as the vessels for this crucial rite of passage, were a pre-eminent tool in the Church's fight against the Devil. Standing within the public space of the church – as with pews, rood screens and chantry chapels – fonts would have been paid for by the parishioners, and so the richness of their decoration was determined by the funds available and the prevailing architectural fashions of the time. Some of the more extravagant have elaborate multi-tiered covers, raised for use via ropes or chains and pulleys. In this fascinating introduction, Matthew Byrne explores the history of fonts in churches all over the nation, highlighting some of the most notable examples and explaining their evolution across the centuries.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Feb 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9781784423926

Matthew Byrne

Matthew Byrne has been exploring, studying and photographing English churches for nearly 40 years. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society in 1988 for his work in architectural photography.

Book preview

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

INTRODUCTION

FONT CONSTRUCTION AND MATERIALS

THE ANGLO-SAXON CENTURIES, 800–1066

THE NORMAN PERIOD, 1066–1200

THE LATER MIDDLE AGES, 1200–1500

THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY

THE VICTORIAN AGE

THE LATE TWENTIETH AND EARLY TWENTY-FIRST CENTURIES

FURTHER READING

PLACES TO VISIT

FOREWORD

THE NATIONAL CHURCHES TRUST is the UK’s charity for church buildings. Our work helps to ensure that the nation’s shared heritage of churches, chapels and meeting houses remains in good repair and open for worship and community activities.

We want to ensure that the priceless treasures inside churches, many of them pre-medieval, can continue to amaze us.

One of the most important architectural features inside a church is the font. This is where the life of a Christian begins: in the baptismal waters we see the reflection not just of today but of the life to come. It’s not surprising, therefore, that the most highly skilled sculptors and stonemasons have worked on the creation of fonts.

For over forty years Dr Matthew Byrne, a Friend of the National Churches Trust, has been visiting the churches of the UK and photographing them in superb detail. We are delighted that in this book he has been able to share with a wider audience some of the best examples of his photographs of fonts and to tell the story of why they are so important.

The UK’s church heritage is unrivalled anywhere in the world. It is important that we do everything we can to make sure that it remains there for future generations to enjoy. One way of doing that is by visiting churches and helping other people discover their glories. I hope that this book (and also our ExploreChurches website) will help you to do so.

Claire Walker, Chief Executive, National Churches Trust

INTRODUCTION

FONTS FOR THE rite of baptism, or christening, have been an important feature in Christian churches for nearly 2,000 years, ever since the time Christians were able to worship in public in the Roman Empire. The word baptism comes from the Greek baptismos meaning immersion, dipping or submersion. Just as water is the basic means of physical cleansing the Christian Church has used water in various rites as a symbol of spiritual cleansing. The symbolism pre-dates the Christian religion; it was used in the ancient religions of the Mediterranean world and the East. Before the time of Christ Judaism did not use the word ‘baptism’ but practised a rite of immersion as an act of moral cleansing and for the reception of proselytes. Thus in Ezekiel 36:25, Yahweh says, ‘I shall pour clean water over you and you will be cleansed: I shall cleanse you of all your defilement and all your sins.’ In the period immediately before the start of Christ’s public ministry his cousin John the Baptist was preaching the imminence of the Messiah’s arrival and performing baptisms of repentance in the River Jordan and elsewhere. Christ himself came to John and received baptism from him, and at this moment John recognised Jesus as the Messiah, when the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. Throughout three years of His public ministry Christ referred on several occasions to