Mitcham / Miccham / Miceham / Micham / Micheham / Michelham

There are two entries for Mitcham [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TQ2768/mitcham/] [accessed 21 March 2016], neither of which mentions cleric or church in it. Lysons (1792) notes a church "dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul" in the place identified in Domesday as 'Michelham', and, inside the church: "At the west end of the north aisle stands the font, which is ornamented with Gothic tracery, and resembles that at Mortlake which was erected in the reign of Henry VI." Hassell (1817) repeats Lysons' description almost verbatim: "The font of the church is ornamented with Gothic tracery, and has a similtude to that at Mortlake, erected about the reign of Henry VI" [i.e., 1422+ ]. Allen (1831) notes: "At the east end of the south aisle is the font, a square basin supported by four small pillars." Brayley (1850) writes: "The old Church, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul [...] The old church remained until the present century; when, from the increase of the population, it became desirable to raise a new structure upon an enlarged scale [...] The building [...] was completed in 1822 [...] The font is a square stone basin, supported by four small pillars, and ornamented with tracery in the pointed style." Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a Heraldic font of the 15th century, the Perpendicular period, described as being similar to the font at Mortlake [cf. Index entry], and "closely resembles it" (ibid.). [NB: the font noted in Brayley ca. 1850 appears to match Lysons' description of ca. 1792, but does not match the font in Cox & Harvey of 1907. The Victoria County History (Surrey, vol. 4, 1912) notes: " The British Listed Buildings database [http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-205020-parish-church-of-st-peter-and-st-paul-mi] [accessed 9 August 2010] reports a "1820s font" in this church.