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St George, Edington, Somerset

Location
(51°9′14″N, 2°52′40″W)
Edington
ST 387 398
pre-1974 traditional (England and Wales) Somerset
now Somerset
medieval Wells
now Bath & Wells
medieval St George
now St George
  • Robin Downes
  • Robin Downes
7th November 2005

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Feature Sets
Description

The compact village of Edington lies on the N side of the Polden Hills on a lower slope in the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, about 8 miles W of Glastonbury. Edington was a chapelry of Moorlinch until it became a separate parish in 1863. The church was completely rebuilt in 1878-79 by Edwin Down in a fabric of coursed and squared rubble with freestone dressings. The present building consists of a nave with a small N transept, chancel with N vestry, a S porch, and a W bellcote. The only Romanesque feature is a font.

History

In 1086 Roger de Courcelles held 5 hides at Edington which formed part of the abbey of Glastonbury's estate of Shapwick. Before 1066 this land was among 30 hides held by 14 thegns of the abbey. In the 14thc the abbey regarded Edington as part of its so-called manor of Dundon-super-Polden, a group of fees which were held in 1166 of Robert Malet by Hubert de Sancta Susanna and which were held by William Malet (d. c. 1216). (VCH)

Features

Furnishings

Fonts

Comments/Opinions

Between the font bowl and the stem there is a ring of cable moulding; this is in very much worse condition than that below (and was probably much less fine originally). The regularity of the lower cable, as well as its good condition, make the fieldworker to think it is at least a renewal. Pridham (2013, 78) concurs and includes a drawing made in 1898 which shows the font as it is today. The lower cable ring and the two chamfered layers of the plinth were therefore probably all part of the 19thc restoration. If it is accepted that the upper part is the complete original font, its complex form can be resolved as a very compressed pillar, with base, mouldings and lugs, column, ring, capital, and even the chamfered rim might equate to an impost.

The 12thc font could suggest that there was a church from that date, although the earliest reference to a chapel is 1209 (VCH). As a chapel, it would have been unusual for the church to have baptismal rights and, therefore, a font. The font may therefore have been installed after the creation of Edington parish in 1863 and then moved to its present position in 1958.

Bibliography

F. Arnold-Forster, Studies in Church Dedications or England’s Patron Saints (London, 1857), III, 115.

'Edington', in A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 8, the Poldens and the Levels, ed. R. Dunning (London, 2004), pp. 50-63. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/som/vol8/pp50-63 [accessed 20 December 2022].

Historic England listing 1060135

'Text of the Somerset Domesday: Part 1', in A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 1, ed. W. Page (London, 1906), pp. 479-526. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/som/vol1/pp479-526 [accessed 2 December 2022].

N. Pevsner,The Buildings of England; South and West Somerset (Harmondsworth 1958), p165.

H. Pridham, Ancient Church Fonts of Somerset, ed. A. Webb (Taunton, 2013).