Islip font

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This simple ceramic baptismal bowl, set within a turned wooden goblet-shaped support was used at Islip Methodist Church. It stands about 30 cm tall.

Since the chapel closed it has been in private ownership. It is interesting that the font had previously been used at Cranham Street mission in Oxford – see the marks on the underside of the font.

A mission established in Jericho in 1871 at first met in a house in Albert Street, but by 1873 a chapel had been built in Cranham Street. The Cranham Street chapel continued as a mission until 1918 and it is possible that the font was passed on to Islip at that time.

Physically nearby to Cranham Street, and on the initiative of Hugh Price Hughes, a new chapel, designed in gothic style by T. Mullett Ellis, was opened in Walton Street in 1883.

It might be that the font was transferred to Walton Street when the mission closed and then made its way to Islip when Walton Street itself closed in 1946.

If you know anything more about the story of this font, we would love to hear from you!