Owlpen is a small settlement in the folds of the Cotswold escarpment, in a valley draining W to Dursley. The church is on the slope, above and adjacent to the manor house. A medieval church was rebuilt 1828-30 and was much altered in 1874-5; the tower was rebuilt in 1912. The small church has chancel with N vestry, and a nave with S porch and W tower. It is described as having ‘the richest Victorian or Edwardian interior in the Cotswolds’ (Verey et al. 2002, 536-7).

In 1913, the early tub font was placed in the rebuilt tower, in a baptistery lined with opus sectile.

Medieval dedication is unknown, but the modern dedication, attested at least from the 1860s, is to the Holy Rood (Fryer, 37 (1915), 119).

The incised pattern on the bottom angle of the font is singular. It is probably a continuous row (perhaps crenellation) but not all marks are complete. Other tub fonts seen at Lasborough and Upton St Leonards do not have any pattern at all. Fonts with clustered columns supporting them, as for example at Harescombe, might perhaps suggest that the marks were made in anticipation of cutting the imposts and capitals for a multi-column support. These are always part of the tub, but there may not have been enough depth to undertake such a cutting.

The total destruction of the parish churches of Owlpen and Uley evidently met with local criticism from members of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society (Anon., 'Proceedings', 1928, 40).

The circular bowl of the font had been used as a water-trough before it was restored (Fryer 1914, 117, 130). A new circular pedestal, plinth and step were provided (Fryer 1913, 171, with illustration).