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Font in Dolton Church, North Devon

By Winslow Jones

Trans. Devon. Assoc. 1891, Vol XXIII, pp. 197-202, 4 plates.

Prepared by Michael Steer

This illustrated paper was delivered at the Association’s July 1890 Tiverton meeting. One of the several treasures of the ancient Church of St Edmund is a font, composed of two blocks of stone mounted one on top of the other, and carved with interlaced and serpentine patterns. The carved stone of which the font is made, is of great antiquity, and possibly formed part of one or perhaps two ancient carved shafts, which, from the character of the carving, might be at least 1000 years old, therefore of Anglo-Saxon origin. The shaft was converted into a font and the top portion turned upside down. On the upper part of the south side is a human face, with an animal, most likely a dragon, issuing from each nostril. On the west side are two animals similar in character to those on the south, with wings and feet. The eastern side has two fish, with their tails crossed and their heads uniting at the top of the bowl. The north side is carved with a figure of eight pattern on the lower block. The article, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.