I am repeating my popular Zoom course on Kent Churches this March, to tie in with the publication of my new book, Churches of Kent. The course will run for three Wednesday evenings commencing 9th March. Each session is from 7.30pm - 8.30pm and will cover history, architecture, furnishings, monuments and stained glass. The cost is £25 for the three sessions which may be booked here.  Kent Churches Course

The book can be purchased in all the usual outlets or direct from the publisher Amberley Books . It is a new look at 50 famous and not so well known churches and is profusely illustrated with 100 colour photographs.

I`m delighted to report that I am now taking bookings for my April 2022 weekend based in Somerset that was originally planned for April 2020. This three night coach tour will be based in Ilminster at a comfortable hotel that we have used before and will visit approximately twenty churches. The cost is £595 per person which includes Dinner, Bed and Breakfast and transport from 2pm at Crewkerne Station on the first day until 2pm at Crewkerne Station on the last day. The only extras will be lunches and donations to the churches. If you travel to Somerset by car you can be picked up and dropped back at the Hotel. Please note that single rooms are limited in number.

The situation regarding open churches is still mixed with the C of E giving individual churches discretion as to how to use their buildings. However, I am working on the premise that most of the churches I originally planned to visit will be available, although I may have to swap a few around nearer the time.

Here is my proposed Programme: 

Whitelackington, Shepton Beauchamp, South Petherton, Martock,Hinton St George, Crewkerne, Chillington,Cudworth, Curry Rivel, Muchelney, Kingsbury Episcopi, Long Sutton, Langport, Isle Abbots, North Curry, Hatch Beauchamp, Ashill, Chilthorne Domer, Montacute, Brympton.

To book please email or phone me. A deposit of £95 per person will be required, payable by cheque or PayPal.   This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.     07962 368062 

Sadly, I have decided to give up arranging my public church day tours. I have been running these for over 30 years. They have been thoroughly enjoyable and I have met many interesting people along the way.

These tours take a huge amount of organisation and since Data Protection came into force it has been almost impossible to obtain contact details for individual churches. In an average year I have to contact in excess of 50 churches (just for day tours) and when you don't receive a response from half of them and spend hours trying to make contact it just takes the fun out of it.

For the past two years I have run the tours at a loss and COVID-19 has made the situation even worse.

John Vigar`s  Church Tours 2020 (all churches subject to availability)

DAY TOURS To book / enquiries  07962 368062 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Tuesday 17^th  March              THANET Ramsgate x 2, Margate and St Lawrence

As we travel around England, we occasionally come across fonts made of metal. In own time an amazing stainless-steel font has been placed in Salisbury Cathedral and many churches use a metal bowl at the front of the church. However, metal fonts have been used for centuries and over 30 medieval examples survive in our parish churches, dating from the 11^th to the 17^th centuries.

There must have been many more, but lead is easily damaged and can be reused for other purposes.

There are a group of 6 identical fonts in Gloucestershire that must have been cast from the same mould.

A characteristic of the early fonts is the arcading around the bowl, which can be plain or contain figures. One at Walton on the Hill in Surrey has both arcading, figures and foliage decoration.