St James, Ruscombe, Berkshire

I Location

Site Location: Ruscombe
National Grid Reference: SU 798 763
County: traditional: Berkshire
now: Berkshire
Diocese: medieval: Salisbury
now: Oxford
Dedication: medieval: not confirmed
now (or name of monument): St James
Type of building/monument: Parish church

II General Description

12thc. flint chancel, brick nave and W tower of 1638-39. The only features of interest are a pillar piscina and the recut font.

V Furnishings

1. Fonts

(i)

: Font, N face, detail

: Font, general view to SW

NW end of nave. In its present state, the font consists of a plain octagonal bowl of Purbeck marble (or a similar limestone with smallish fossils) standing on a 19thc. base of the pilier cantonnée type. The cracked N face of the bowl, carved with a plain blind arcade in shallow relief and more weathered than the rest, suggests that the bowl was originally of the square arcaded type, more commonly found in Sussex. The upper edge of the rim is chamfered, and the inner bowl is circular and lined with lead.

Dimensions

ext. diam of bowl (i.e. side of original square bowl)	0.71m
int. diam of bowl	0.60m
h. of bowl	0.30m
w. of carved (N) face	0.29m

3. Piscinae/Pillar Piscinae

: Pillar piscina, general view to SE

: Pillar piscina, detail

(i) Pillar piscina

Set into a niche in S wall of chancel. It consists of an attic base supporting a cylindrical column and a square, triple scalloped capital with wedges between the cones, and plain necking, all carved from a single block. The top is hollowed out and drilled for drainage but unlined. It has been limewashed.

Dimensions

total h	0.37m
h. of capital incl. necking	0.12m
h. of shaft	0.18m
h. of base	0.07m
w of capital	0.18m
inner diam of bowl	0.13m

VII History

VIII Comments/Opinions

IX Bibliography

N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England. Berkshire. Harmondsworth, 1966, 208.