The village of Stratton on the Fosse (ie. the Fosse Way), 6mi NE of Shepton Mallet, lies well up in the Mendip Hills (at about 160m OD) at the head of a valley leading NW towards Radstock near Downside Abbey. The church of St Vigor has 12thc origins and consists of a nave with N aisle and a S porch, chancel and W tower. It was much rebuilt in the 15thc-16thc, with further rebuilding in the late 18thc and a restoration in the 19thc. Despite this, several Romanesque elements survive, consisting of three corbel heads in the SW corner of the nave, the S doorway, tower arch, and a tub font.

The manor was given to Glastonbury Abbey by King Edgar. In 1066 the Abbey's tenant was Alweald, but by 1086 the estate was held by the Bishop of Coutances. The manor later passed to the Gourney family. Sir Thomas de Gournay was implicated in the murder of Edward II, for which his estates were confiscated, and Stratton was later annexed to the Duchy of Cornwall. (Robinson, 1915).

The plainness of the S door, font and chancel arch suggest that either funds for building were modest, or that the patron deliberately wanted to embrace a minimalist aesthetic. These may be late 12thc. features given that the chancel arch is slightly pointed.

One wonders whether the short section of corbel table was perhaps once part of a longer feature, or if the extant section has been reset (the listing text describes it as a 'former Norman corbel table'). The faces may not the work of an expert hand, but their expressions are very menacing.

The tooling on the bowl suggests deliberate use for decorative effect: it is diagonal on the larger lower part but diagonal in the contrary direction at the very top; not very clear round the band between the incisions, it seems however to be horizontal; at the very top of the lower part, under the lower incision, the tooling appears to be vertical; on the rim the tooling is again diagonal.