The village of Stocklinch lies 3.5mi NE of Ilminster, Somerset, on the lower slopes of a hill which has given the place its name: Old English ‘stoc’ means ‘place’ or ‘secondary settlement’ and ‘hlinc’ (sic) a hill. St Mary’s church occupies an isolated position on the hillside. The church, which is built of Ham stone, houses a Norman font. It is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.

DB records that in 1086 Stocklinch Ottersey was held by Alweard and his brothers, having inherited the manor from their father who held it in 1066. This continuity of ownership is unusual.

The cylindrical font stem is relatively shallow. As at the nearby church of St Mary Magdalene, this may be due to the relative height of the plinth/base, although the font there takes a different form (see St Mary Magdalene, Stocklinch, Somerset - CRSBI). The bowl’s strongly conical shape gives some dignity (contrast the tubbiness of many fonts). There is a sense of balance/interplay between the verticality of the font’s shape and the horizontality of its decoration. The beauty of the stone is enhanced by the breadth of the plain rim and the absence of lead.

The presence of claw tooling on the font suggests it may be late in the period; a date of c 1200 would also fit the decorative foliate scrolling which is on its way to becoming 13thc stiff-leaf carving.