| Summary: | The Dolton font consists of two square blocks placed one on the other. The upper block, in which a square-sided bowl is hollowed, is turned upside down to get a shape tapering downwards, or perhaps it was thought that the ornament, the significance of which has been lost, was of a sinister nature and would be safer upside down. On 3 faces of the upper block the serpent motif appears, interlaced after the Scandinavian fashion. Some of the interlaced tails have knots at the end - adopted by Christian artists to show that the serpent was in bondage to the cross. The lower part of the font is formed of two sections cemented together; the ornament is cut through so as to make the sides of equal width. The whole of this block is covered with another variety of interlaced work, consisting of bands worked into figures of knots or plaits. The N face of the upper block is filled with a similar plait. At a date unknown the font was made from an early Christian monument of the same type as the existing cross at Copplestone, or possibly from two such monuments. Eighth to tenth centuries. Probably erected as sepulchral memorials. The font is thought to be of similar stone and general character to the cross at Colyton. The smaller block probably comes from the upper part of a cross. Grinsell says that the blocks are richly carved and attributes them to the Wessex school of late Saxon sculpture (sources of above not specified). |
|---|