Eardisley

The Font

Thousands of visitors come to Eardisley each year to see the Romanesque Font in Eardisley Church. It is a wonderful example of the skill of a band of inspired stonemasons who worked in this area in the middle part of the 12^th Century.

The carvings round the Font illustrate the saving of  pre-Christians, and perhaps of humankind in general, from the power of evil and of death. A small figure representing Adam, the first man, is vigorously hauled out of entangling undergrowth by the larger figure of Christ as Saviour.

Christ is accompanied by the Holy Spirit, shown as a dove sitting on His shoulder; and is balanced by a figure almost certainly representing God the Father. There is also a large and splendid lion whose role is disputed; and two men fighting each other, who are probably there to point a moral - the spiritual danger of uncontrolled or misdirected violence.

It is very unlikely that the fighting pair represent Ralph de Baskerville the lord of Eardisley killing his father-in-law Drogo lord of Clifford. That story is itself only a lively bit of folklore, with no evidence to support it as an historical event. Ralph did however own the church at Eardisley and may have commissioned the font.