Hexham Abbey

The FONT, the place of baptism, or christening, stands on a plinth at the west end of the nave. It is a composite creation which tellingly symbolises the long history of Wirlfrid’s church. The large circular bowl is believed to be Roman, possibly an inverted pillar-base; it is set on a medieval carved stone base decorated with typically 13th-century dog-tooth decoration; the fine wooden cover is 17th century; while the great canopy above it, more than six metres tall, was made in 1916 by a Belgian refugee, re-using 15th-century woodwork.*

Behind the canopy a stained glass window has two tiers showing the Northumbrian saints and below them a tier showing episodes from the saints’ histories.

*From the Hexham Abbey guidebook

11 Comments CherryPie on Nov 21st 2015

11 Responses to “Hexham Abbey – The Font”

  1. Chrysalis says:

    Beautiful shot of the scale of the abbey and font, Cherie :)

    For some reason, your photos of Hexford in particular remind me of a song chamber choir once sang in high school- “Adoramus Te” (Palestrina arrangement).

    It is sung a Capella by a choir, and if the song is sung at just the right pitch, tone, tempo and in perfect synchrony with one another – in the right acoustic environment – the audience will often report getting chills (a good kind) from the song.

    (Not always from the singing itself, which trust me, was far from perfect in a high school chamber choir – but because the song itself is at times sung on the chromatic scale ;)

    Interestingly, we personally found that people didn’t appear to report chills when either smaller groups of our choir performed it at various community events, when comprised only of men or only of women, even when in better acoustic environments – we appeared to only get this feedback when the entire chamber choir of both women and men sang it together :)

    I imagine with the right choir, Palestrina’s Adoramus Te sung at Hexford would be nothing short of rapturous :)

    I couldn’t find just the right video clip to do it justice, but this one is similar – I hope you enjoy it, this Sunday :)

    https://youtu.be/u219h-Y1S1k

  2. ....peter:) says:

    This is a wonderful image of the font itself… the statures and the magnificent stained glass windows behind it Cherie… well done….peter:)

  3. Alan says:

    It’s a beautiful part of the world. I’ve only passed through Hexham once and never had the chance t stop to look round the Abbey. Something else to do when I retire next year :)

  4. Ayush says:

    excellent shot. you hav shown off the canopy and the stained glass work very well, CP

  5. Oh I have not heard of this place Hexham before.
    What is its twin sister town?
    Wexham?! ;)