Topsham / Topeshant

There is entry for Topsham [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SX9688/topsham/] [accessed 28 January 2018], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Listed in Lysons (1806-1822) as a baptismal font "circular with figures of animals rudely carved". Described and illustrated in Bond (1908) as a Norman font on which is depicted a strange beast. On-site notes [information chiefly from the church guide]: the Norman round basin dating to the 12th-13th century is the only remnant of the old church (church guide, p. 1). It has a saw-tooth motif around the basin sides and a large four-legged animal, probably a lion "regardant", although the guide identifies it as a "dragon with a round object in its mouth (possibly Eve's Apple)" (ibid., p. 3). For daring and outlandish identifications, however, one must refer to Tisdall (1988?), whose far-fetched caption reads: "The Crocodile swallows the Hydrus. The prelude to the death of Satan." The base appears to be of a later date, perhaps Victorian. The large brass font cover dates, according to church guide, to 1880 and is a gift of the Ellacombe family (p. 3); a pulley mechanism hangs from the ceiling to raise the lid. Stabb (1908) writes: "The font [...] is the principal object of interest in the church; it is probably Norman; the bowl is circular, and on the east side is carved a beast of nondescript character, its head turned over its back, and a round object in its mouth. The carving may be intended to refer to the legend of the beaver [...] [NB: here Stabb refers to his own comment on the baptismal font at St. Marychurch]. There is a handsome brass font cover, the gift of the late Rev. Henry T. Ellacombe [1790-1885]. The font is described and illustrated in Clarke (1915) who attributes it to the late Norman style and fits it into a group she names "The Incipient Pedestal-Bowl". Clarke identifies the material as freestone and the animal carved on the basin as a dragon, like those that appear on the fonts at St. Kea, in Cornwall, and East Meon, in Hampshire, one that fits the Fall of Man scene: "It is improbable that the Topsham font is intended to represent the same incident, though Adam and Eve are not shown". [NB: there is really nothing strange about the beautiful animal carved on the side in a background of large rib-like zig-zag pattern: a classical Norman regardant lion, its tail over its head]. Clarke further adds that "a beautiful but sadly incongruous pyramidal cover in perforated brass" is copied from a Flemish example. Noted in Pevsner (1952): "Norman circular bowl with a large fluted zigzag motif and in one place an animal, its head looking backwards, its head holding an apple (?)". The netry for this church in Historic England [List Entry Number: 1170373] notes: "II* Perp tower, the rest rebuilt 1874-6 by Edward Ashworth […] The Norman font has a circular bowl with big conical flutes, and on one side a large standing beast or dragon holding an apple (?) in its mouth. The font cover is of spire form, of cut and pierced brass, 1880."