Chesterfield

Described in Cox & Harvey (1907) as one of the several Norman tub fonts "characteristically ornamented". Described in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as a "very much worn and defaced bowl" ornamented with a wide band of scroll-work. Listed in Stocker (1997) as one in a group of "font bowls buried in churchyard or adjacent vicarage garden". Noted in Pevsner (1978): "Font. Norman, tub-shaped, with leaf decoration; also a foliated cross; badly preserved." Noted and illustrated in John Ward [http://www.flickr.com/photos/oxfordshirechurches/3418046478/in/set-72157616330904355/] [accessed 7 September 2009]: "The Font. The oldest artefact in the church and is thought to date from c.890-1050 AD. Originally it stood with little or no base, at floor level. Having spent about 250 years in the vicarage garden discarded and in use as a plant pot, it was returned in 1898 to its present position and set on a new marble plinth in the south transept."