Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 2.djvu/293



Mr. Jonathan Gooding, of Southwold, Suffolk, communicated a sketch of the basin of an ancient font, formerly in the church of Reydon, near Southwold. It is of octagonal form, at each angle there is a little column, and the sides are perfectly plain. The pedestal had been destroyed; the upper portion, as Mr. Gooding stated, had long been used as a trough for feeding bullocks on the premises of a farmer at Reydon. It was recently purchased by a clergyman in the neighbourhood, in the hope that it might be restored to the church to which it had originally belonged, anciently known as St. Margaret's of Rissemere, the mother-church of Southwold. Several similar cases of desecration were mentioned by Mr. Shirley, the Rev. Arthur Hussey, and Mr. Way; especially the existence of three ancient fonts in the garden of the Shakespeare Arms Inn, at Stratford-on- Avon. The Committee agreed fully with Mr. Gooding that it is very desirable to preserve objects of this nature, and if possible to replace them in the churches whence they may have been heedlessly removed.

Dr. Bromet exhibited a drawing by Mr. G. J. L. Noble, and tracings taken by himself from some portions of the distemper painting recently discovered in Croydon church, accompanied by the following observations. "On the south wall, and opposite to the north door of Croydon church, is a colossal figure of St. Christopher, of which the general design is so grand