What of the eight faces and eight grotesque heads found on this font? The traditional view is that the eight faces represent the 8 Books of the Prophets of the Old Testament, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. The significance of this may be explained by St Aldhelm's acknowledged understanding of the Old Testament some five hundred years before.

The symbolism of the number eight also plays an important role in the construction of many baptismal fonts. Although important in many faiths, in terms of Christian symobilm, the number eight and the octagon represent the resurrection and rebirth, because Christ rose from grave 8 days after entry into Jerusalem. Thus they became symbols of baptism, the spiritual rebirth of a person, and many baptisteries and baptismal fonts are octagonal or show eight features of differing types. Also, from the Old Testament, Eight is perfect intelligence; splendour. The digit value of "IHVH" is the "Number of the Lord". The Temple was sanctified in eight days.

These various possibilities may explain the eight faces, but what of the eight grotesques? Could the iconography of this font in fact represent the Eight Beatitudes of Christ from the Sermon on the Mount, recorded in the Gospel of Matthew in the faces and the opposite in the form of the Eight Woes be expressed in the grotesques? As the faces are larger than the grotesques, could this suggest the winning of good over evil? There may be strength in this theory because of the works of Saint Aldhelm in his translation of the Psalms, as the Beatitudes rest on passages found within in them. ~ [Matthew 5:3 (Psalm 40:17); 5:4 (Psalm 119:136); 5:5 (Psalm 37:11); 5:6 (Psalm 42:1,2); 5:7 (Psalm 41:1); 5:8 (Psalm 24:4; 73:1); 5:9 (Psalm 133:1); 5:10 (Psalms 37; 39; 40).]

It is suggested also that the sculptor's emphasis on the details of the figures, distinctive features and ages, shows it was modelled on a more elaborate work - not necessarily in the vein of Norman simplicity - the decorative motifs belonging to a larger era. In this particular case we may look to the local history of the time of its crafting where we learn from Hutchins (see reference below) that in the Manor of Stoke Abbot were eight thanes (administrative officials of the King). Could it be that the sculptors used these local men as the models for their work?

(The word 'thane' was borrowed from the Saxons who had adapted it from the Norse title thegn - meaning a trusted servant of the King -just as 'earl' was taken from the Norse title of jarl; these were the oldest distinctions of nobility in the Middle Ages.)