craftsman than more celebrated writers evidently do. If you want to see the very depths of pretentiousness, read a few academic papers about mediaeval stonemasons.Some of the authors are so far up themselves they must suffer from Vitamin D deficiency.
Anyway, the Aylesbury fonts are distinguished - and that is the right word - by their goblet shaped bowls with fluting decoration. They are placed on scalloped bases, Apart from the unusual imagination of this design - beyond the dreams of the masons’ pre-Conquest predecessors - one cannot help but be impressed by the regularity of the flutes themselves; thirty or forty of them miraculously going through 360 degrees without the last ones showing the limitations of Norman geometry. The rims above the fluting are carved stylised designs and at Great Kimble these are very fine indeed. The font was carved from a block of stone weighing two tons from Totternhoe in Bedfordshire. The stone for all of the Aylesbury fonts came from there. But in saying “came from there” what do we actually mean? It is better than fifty-fifty (unless someone knows better) that they were also carved there and transported as finished goods. In that regard it is surely significant that the Aylesbury fonts are all mostly close to the ancient Icknield Way or to what is now the B485. The notion that they were carved at the quarry by a group of sculptors has considerable logic to it.
As for the current building itself here, the arcades seem to be late thirteenth century and the chancel arch fourteenth century. The two aisles were originally of that era but were rebuilt by the Victorians. The Victorians, indeed, were responsible for most of the exterior we see now. So not a very interesting building. Yet somehow it works and is no less interesting and certainly not less endearing than many an all-Mediaeval building. There is a nice “feel” to it. And if you are an experienced church crawler you will know exactly what I mean.
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