St Andrew
Epworth, Lincolnshire
St Andrew’s has its origins in the 12th century and has architectural features from the 12th to the 15th centuries, with some later additions.
Although there are entries for Belton on the Isle of Axholme in Domesday Book, there is no record of a church here in 1086. The first record of the church dates from 1145 when Roger de Mowbray granted the living of the church of Belton to Newburgh Priory, an Augustinian house he had founded between 1142 and 1143.
Pevsner dates the font to the Romanesque period, probably based on its lack of ornamentation. However the thorough painting of the font makes it impossible to analyse the surface of the stone, and there is an element of perfection in the clean profile of bowl that, at least to this author, raises a question about a Romanesque date, or at least suggests a recarving of the bowl.
