2 17 



litrt)gs!)(tc iTonts. 



By G. Le Blanc Smith. 



[HE following dues not pretend to be in any way 

 original, but is written with the intention of illus- 

 trating and comparing several early fonts in 

 Derbyshire, and, it is to be hoped, of classifying 

 them in order of date. 



THE FONT AT WILNE. 



The Saxon-worked stone, in which this font is hollowed, 

 originally formed the base of what must have been a fine 

 example of one of the numerous cylindrical crosses which are to 

 be found in Derbyshire, Cheshire, and Lancashire. Similar 

 instances may be seen at Melbury Bubb in Dorsetshire, Dolton, 

 Devon, and Penmon, Anglesey.* 



The Rev. G. F. Browne (now Bishop of Bristol), in 

 Volume VII. of this Journal, p. 185, gi\es a most lucid and 

 interesting description of the specimen at Wilne. The font 

 is remarkable for its total absence of the well-known knot 

 and interlaced work, what interlacing there is being in the 

 somewhat unusual form of dragons or large birds. In this it may 

 be compared to that, of later date, at Bridekirk, Cumberland. 

 The rubbing of Bishop Browne (Vol. VII., plate 13) shows these 

 very distinctly, far more so than the font itself. The writer has 

 twice endeavoured to see them on the font, but the fact that the 

 lower part of the cross is reversed perhaps complicates the 

 inspection, for the result on each occasion was without avail. 



* The Reliquary, October, 1902, p. 243. 



