Hook Norton / Hocceneretune / Hochenartone / Hocnertune / Hogenarton / Hooknorton / Okenardton

There is an entry for Hook Norton [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SP3533/hook-norton/] [accessed 24 November 2016], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it]. The baptismal font here is engraved in Skelton (1823). Reported in Tymms (1834): "circular, of the 12th cent. with very curiously sculptured figures of an attendant on a crusader, armed with a battle axe, and carrying the water-boudet". In Moule (1837). The Ecclesiastical and Architectural Topography of England: Oxfordshire (1850) notes: "The font is N[orman], round, with figures carved upon it." In Murray (1882). Described in Romilly Allen (1888) and in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Norman period, inscribed "with the names of Sagittarius, Adam, and Eve". Noted in Kelly's Oxford Directory (1911): "the font is Early Norman work, of unique character, cylindrical, and surrounded with rude sculptures in relief, of Adam and Eve, Sagittarius, and other zodiacal signs". Druce (1914) dates it to the 12th century and identifies one of the animals as an amphisbaena. Illustrated by Frederick Mackenzie in a copper engraving for Skelton's 1823 book 'Antiquities of Oxfordshire'. Described in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as a tub-shaped baptismal font of the Norman period ornamented with scroll work and a figure of Sagitarius and Aquarius, among other motifs. Zarnecki (1951) connects Adam and Eve's appearance here to "the absolution from the original sin through baptism"; the defeat of Aquarius by Saggitarius as the prevalence the baptismal water over the destructive waters of the Deluge." In Ettlinger (1962), with reference to Zarnecki. Sherwood and Pevsner (1974) note: "Font. Norman, circular, carved with rustic but lively figures, including Adam and Eve, and Sagittarius and other signs of the Zodiac." One of the scenes on the sides of the cylindrical font at Hook Norton shows a centaur armed with a bow and arrow on the right, his upper body turned to the left, pointing the arrow at the back of a figure carrying a double-bag from a stick on his shoulder; this figure carries also an ax. Tisdall (1998?) describes the scene as "A Sagittarius Centaur and Aquarius the water carrier." On-site notes: on the east side of the basin is the representation of Adam and Eve; on the north side the serpent; on the south-west side a lion, a man and a centaur; an acanthus vine motif encircles the upper rim of the basin, while a band of ball-in-socket motif goes all around the lower basin side. The font is in fair shape, but there is damage at opposite ends of the upper rim consistent with the forceful removal of the old cover iron staples. The font has now a wooden cover consisting of a flat base on which are a number (eight?) of ribs around a central pivot, in the Jacobean style of cover design. The font is raised on a modern plinth.