Aldington Font

Photo. V. J. Torr. ALDINGTON FONT. ( 223 ) ALDINGTON FONT. BY V. J. TORR. MR. F. C. ELLISTON ERWOOD, F.S.A., in his paper on Aldington church in Arch. Cant., XLL, 149, states that " the font is poor," and although commenting on the woodwork fittings of the church in general, strangely makes no reference to the fine Jacobean font cover belonging to it. Conversely, the Rev. G. S. Long, rector of Aldington, in his pamphlet upon the building, obtainable in the church, notices the cover, but says nothing of the font. Mr. Erwood's statement should not be aUowed to pass unchallenged, and it has therefore seemed fitting to vindicate the Aldington font by the foUowing short note. This font belongs to a fairly numerous group scattered about the county, the general design of which is a square bowl (the sides either plain as in this case, or sculptured with shahow arcading) standing on a central shaft and four smaller ones at the angles, with a few minor varieties of construction. AU of them are of twelfth or early thirteenth century date, though it is by no means easy to draw the hne in some cases. Of Norman date, the fonts at Upper Hardres, Westweh, Tilmanstone and Fordwich (without angle shafts) may serve as examples of the arcaded bowl type, and Higham, West Peckham and Wouldham of the plain. Approximately of circa 1200, may be cited High Halstow, Cooling (unless the ornament was added later to a Norman bowl), and Aldington, which bears thirteenth century toohng. Snargate is probably of the early thirteenth century, and Adisham certainly so except the possibly older bowl, while such examples as Posthng andHinxhiU have so httle certain evidence upon them that it is difficult to be sure whether they are Norman or Early English, though the latter is in both cases, I think, more probable. 224 ALDINGTON EONT. The Aldington bowl seems of limestone, square, chamfered off at the under edges, has an old lead hning with central drain, and is free from repair save at the S.W. top corner. The plain central cyhnder seems of ragstone and is original, together with the S.E. and S.W. angle shafts, of Bethersden marble. The other two are modern restorations in Bathstone. None of these shafts have caps or bases, which may render an earher date than 1200 possible, though unlikely in view of the E.E. toohng on the base ; but the platform (of original Bethersden) on which the shafts rest has a simple base moulding all round. The sloping base, also original, is of Caen stone, and the step on which the font stands is of Bethersden, repaired only round the edges on the east, north and west. The marks of the mediaeval staples for locking on a cover to the bowl are not easy to distinguish, but may have been on the east and west sides of the top of the bowl, and possibly also at the S.W. corner, where the repair has been made. The font step abuts at its S.W. angle on the S. respond of the fine tower arch. So far from this font being a " poor " one, it is of simple but good design, and remarkably interesting on account of four different lands of stone being employed in its construction, and a fifth in its repair. The cover is -also a valuable specimen of its early seventeenth century date, and is of the form of a square tabernacle with a trefoUed panel on each face, showing survival of Gothic influence, and having a detached Ionic shaft at each angle, surmounted by a baU finial, the whole crowned by four crocketed ogee Gothic-survival uprights like flying buttresses, bearing a finial, which was loose last year and should be properly secured. This cover is one of the best in Kent and is a good example of the beautiful post-Reformation church furniture so often recklessly and improperly ejected in the last century. I offer a photograph of the font and cover, taken by myself in September, 1929. MINSTER COURT, THANET. 5^B'8?£1gSFSSSf'Ss NORT H KAN C E £> SMJUUfflltt (2* CENTURY L EARLIER « —\-0R IC/NAL HALLWA I5WCENTURY 16 ESS MODERN. Am WORK < XI OF UNCERTAIN DATE FOUNDATIONS EXPOSED ASSUMED $ca/? N444=tea iy.sk/ \ \AxA'$(sJ$\c&.. mio^m'" t-'-MZ^frnfflffiMz W//////////A-. « . . _ , , r ' mart C H U R C H TOWER CHANCEL ( 225 ) A NOTE ON MINSTER COURT AND TRIPARTITE CHURCHES. BY CANON G. M. LIVETT, F.S.A. IN a paper pubhshed in Vol. XL. (p. 142) on the Saxon tripartite or three-chambered church of Whitfield, alias Beuesfeld, mention was made of some Norman examples of the same type, and comparative plans were given of East Ham (Essex) and Sutton-near-Dover. These churches have an aisleless nave with the usual chancel-arch in its E wah ; a square choir, less in breadth and lower in height than the nave, with an arch looking on to the altar ; and the sanctuary beyond, apsidal in form and narrower and lower than the choir. Another Kentish example of the type has recently been unearthed in the grounds of the manor-house known as Minster Abbey, now in the possession of Mr. C. H. Senior, at Minster-in-Thanet. Its existence was revealed by the effect of drought upon the lawn, and by Mr. Senior's kindness the foundations of an apse were in part excavated for the inspection of the members of the Royal Archaeological Institute on the occasion of its summer meeting in 1929. By further excavation Mr. Percy K. Kipps was enabled to discover the tripartite form of the chapel and the lines of the W tower. To iUustrate this brief notice the Council of the Royal Archaeological Institute has kindly granted the loan of the block of Mr. Kipps' plan of Minster Court, which was pubhshed, together with excehent ihustrations and an exhaustive description, in the latest volume (lxxxvi) of the Archaeological Journal. I t is supposed that the ancient nunnery of St. Mildred, founded in the seventh century by Domneva Ermenburga1, 1 Variously called iEbba, Ermenburga and Domneva. Soott Robertson (Arch. Cant. XII, 182) suggests that Domneva may be regarded as a compound of Domina amd JSbba, simply meaning the "Lady Abbess, denoting the popular title given her in the neighbourhood of her great foundation." 19 226 A NOTE ON MINSTER COURT stood on the site now occupied by the parish church. In the fohowing century a larger monastery was built on a site which tradition has identified with that of Minster Court. Burnt by the Danes towards the end of the tenth century, it was deserted by the nuns and what remained of it was inhabited only by a few clerks.1 The site was included in a grant by Cnut of the important manor of " Thanet " to the abbey of St. Augustine in the year 1027.2 It may be presumed that the monks without any great delay built their manor-house on the same site, absorbing whatever remained of the ruined abbey buildings. Originally a smaU building, running N and S, it was enlarged early in the twehth century by the addition of N and S wings enclosing a quadrangle of which the E side was left open : on the S side the chapel, with its massive tower rising up in the SW angle of the quad ; on the N the great hah, flanked at its W end by a narrow building in the NW angle ; and between them there remained the earher building. In the remodelling the early house and the new compartment at the W end of the hah were arranged to form a single long two-storied building, which doubtless contained the kitchens, the parlour and the dorter. A slight divergence of the lines of these two parts and a difference in the thickness of the wahs, visible in Mr. Kipps' accurate plan, suggest a difference of date. This is confirmed by a difference in the technique of the masonry as seen from the quad. In the wall along the W side there is a fair amount of herringbone facing, of which there is no sign in the twelfth-century waUs. There is also a httle blocked window which has a flat lintel of stone, hke the lintels of wood seen in Lanfranc's hospital of St. John outside Northgate, Canterbury. Ah this suggests a date 1 See Mr. R. C. Eowler's account in Vict. Co. Hist, of Kent, vol. ii, p. 151. s The entry in Domesday indicates the importance of the manor : " In Tanet Hundred, St. Mildred's. The same Abbot (of St. Augustine) holds Tanet Manor, which answers for 48 sulings. There is arable land of 62 teams. In demesne there are two. And 160 villans, with 60 bordars, have 63 teams. A Church there. And one presbyter, who gives 20 shillings a year. One saltwork there. And 2 fisheries of 3 pence. And one mill. In the time of King Edward it was worth £80. When the Abbot received it, £40. Now, £100."—Larhing's Translation. AND TRIPARTITE CHURCHES. 22 7 about the middle of the eleventh century, or maybe a little later, for the original manor-house. Through the ground-stage of that earher buUding, at its S end, the twehth-century architect drove a vaulted passage of three bays to give access to the quad from without. S of the passage and structurahy connected with it rises the N wah of the tower, containing the remains of a newelstaircase. It is remarkable that the all-over width of the massive tower exceeded that of the nave by about 7 ft. (This may possibly throw some hght on the puzzle of the original form of the W end of Minster parish church.) The tripartite plan of the chapel needs no comment, unless it be to note the semi-circular form of the apse : this is a Norman feature, distinct from the stilted form usuahy found in Saxon apses. The foundations indicate that the wahs of the nave were thicker and that of the apse was thinner than those of the choir. In other counties there are a few examples of the tripartite species of parish church under review. In these days motor-travel members may hke to visit them, and they may be able to add to the list, which does not pretend to be complete. Dalmeny near Edinburgh—choir and stilted apse each vaulted (see plan in E. S. Prior's Gothic Art, p. 52); Kilpeck, Herefordshire—vaulted apse (F. Bond's Eng. Ch. Arch., p. 187); Moccas, Herefordshire (ditto, p. 236); Steetly, Derbyshire ; Checkendon, Oxon. Other tripartite churches which have features distinguishing them from the species under consideration are not included, but mention may be made of Newenden, Sussex, which has an apsidal sanctuary and a tower over the choir ; Studland, Dorset, also has a tower over the choir, but the sanctuary is square and both compartments are vaulted. Dunham Magna, Leckhampton and other churches might be noted, but these remarks must be brought to a close.