St Edith, Anwick, Lincolnshire

I Location

Site Location
Anwick
National Grid Reference
TF 115 507
County
traditional: Lincolnshire
now: Lincolnshire
Diocese
medieval: Lincoln
now: Lincoln
Dedication
medieval: not confirmed
now (or name of monument): St Edith
Type of building/monument
Parish church

II General Description

Exterior, general view of church

Exterior, general view of church

Church Plan

Church Plan

W tower, four-bay nave with N and S aisles, S porch, and chancel; all from the 13thc. to the first half of the 14thc. Some restoration by Charles Kirk in 1879; chancel rebuilt in 1900 by Brewill and Bailey. Sole evidence of the Romanesque period here is a pillar piscina.

V Furnishings

3. Piscinae/Pillar piscinae

(i) Pillar piscina

Pillar piscina

Pillar piscina

Pillar piscina, detail: capital showing tool marks

Pillar piscina, detail: capital showing tool marks

Located in the S aisle under the E window of the S aisle wall. It is freestanding and made from a single piece of stone of a creamy, white colour. Double-chamfered, octagonal base and an octagonal shaft. Triple scallop piscina capital with octagonal fillet necking. On the scallops the cones are sheathed and the shields are raised in relief slightly greater in circumference than a semi-circle. All shields are marked with a scored line that bisects the shield and with a central, shallow hole. Chamfered abacus with a quirk on face. The top is plain and the shallow basin is square with no drain hole visible. There is a deeply drilled hole at the base of the central cone on one side of the piscina capital.

Dimensions
h. 0.865 m
h. of capital 0.185 m
max. w. range of sides of capital 0.22 m to 0.225 m

VII History

Though Anwick is mentioned in Domesday Book, there is no record of a church here in 1086.

VIII Comments/Opinions

The absence of a drain hole in the basin of this pillar piscina is certainly an oddity. On the other hand, given that it is freestanding and the basin is rather shallow, the absence of the drain hole speaks to the portability of object. The central hole and scoring on the scallop shields are clearly tooling marks of the compass and straight edge.

IX Bibliography

  • N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire. London, 1990, 102.