Discover St Saviour’s

The Font

As we move inside the church from the porch, we pass the War Memorials on the right, which includes a memorial to local men who lost their lives during the Falklands Conflict.  There’s also a Memorial Book nearby.  But the one obvious item you encounter is the font.

Fonts are usually placed near the main entranceway of the church.  It reminds us that through baptism we become members of the church, the Body of Christ.  The font is a sign of resurrection and new life.

This font was carved on site from a block of red sandstone, and financed by the Sunday School and an anonymous donor – a stranger to the parish who was impressed by its keenness, and who gave a donation of £15, to raise the necessary funds of £33

The font was initially placed near the west doors.  However, it was moved to the newly built South aisle in 1894.  The font was again moved in 1986 to its current position during the reordering of the church.

By the way, the plaque on this font doesn’t actually belong here!

At first, it furnished the font at the church of St Francis’ but was placed here when that church closed. The font of St Francis’ is now in the gardens and had been given as a gift and dedicated on January 21, 1896 as thanksgiving for the ministry of Fr Nicholson’s in the parish.

It was carved out of Portland Stone in the classical style, the basin resting on four pillars of Irish Green marble.

You’ll hear more about Fr Nicholson throughout this Trail. He came to the parish as assistant curate in 1887 – a year before the present St Saviour’s was built.

Most of his ministry was spent at St Francis Church. Ordained priest in 1888, he remained in Splott for eight years but in 1895 he left to test his vocation to the Religious Life with the Society of Saint John the Evangelist in Oxford, also known as ‘The Cowley Fathers’.

He spent spent several decades in India, establishing churches, and later became the Provincial Superior.