Io6 ARCHAEOLOGICAL GLEANINGS. 



generations, as is attested by the title deeds of the Ormonde 

 Fields estate. 



The font was dug up in 1834 by a labourer named Kicking, of 

 Codnor, then employed by Mr. Samuel Woolley, a former owner 

 of the property, in a spot pointed out to the Rev. Fred. Corfield, 

 late rector of Heanor (1866 — 1879) by Mr. Woolley. This 

 interesting relic remained for some years in the garden at 

 Ormonde Fields until the death of one of the owners of the 

 property, when it was taken by Mr. Starbuck, a relative of the 

 Woolleys, to a farmhouse at Codnor. After Mr. Starbuck's death 

 it was removed to Heanor, about the year 1870, by Mr. J. S. 

 Woolley, surgeon, where it remains in the possession of his 

 widow. At the time of the discovery of the font was found the 

 head of a female quaintly carved in stone, now in the hall at 

 Ormonde Fields. It is of excellent workmanship, and was 

 originally about nine inches in length. It exhibits a square head- 

 dress, with lappets characteristic of the costume worn about the 

 end of the fourteenth century. 



There can be no doubt but that interments have taken place in 

 Church Close, for several inhabitants of Codnor now living have 

 seen human remains and parts of coffins disturbed when the iron- 

 stone mines were worked here some forty or fifty years ago. 



It is not probable that the Greys used this place for interment. 

 The Zouches, the successors of the Greys, repose at Heanor, and 

 as they were the heirs of the Greys, it is not unlikely that mem- 

 bers of both houses sleep together in death. When the body of 

 the old parish church at Heanor was taken down in 1868 to be 

 replaced by the present building, the Codnor Castle vault was 

 broken open by the falling of one of the beams of the nave roof. 

 The large stone covering the steps about three feet to the east of 

 the present font was shattered, and on its removal an inspection 

 of the interior of the vault was made by the rector and myself, 

 accompanied by Mr. Woodhead, one of the churchwardens. 

 Here we found seventeen leaden coffins, most of which lay side 

 by side upon the floor, several smaller ones being placed upon 

 them. Some of the larger ones measured from seven feet, to seven 



