Bolton by Bowland / Bodeltone [Domesday] / Bolton-by-Bowland / Bolton in Bollond / Bolton-juxta-Bowland

There is an entry for Bolton [by Bowland] [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SD7849/bolton-by-bowland/] [accessed 24 June 2015], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. There is a 1773 drawing of this font and its coat of arms by Samuel Hieronymus Grimm (1733-1794) in the collections of the British Library. Poole (1842) writes: "The font at Bolton in Bollond [sic] almost exactly resembles that at Kilvington [i.e., South Kilvington, in North Yorkshire], but its arms belong to another family. It is figured in the Appendix to the eleventh volume of the Archaeologia." Noted in Paley (1844) as a baptismal font bearing a sculptured inscription. Noted by Glynne in his 1 March 1860 visit (in Butler, 2007): "The font has an octagonal bowl, with concave sides, the stem octagonal, with projecting base. It is charged with heraldic shields, with arms and a brass plate, inscribed: "Orate p. aiabs"; but the letters are confused, having been transposed" [NB: Butler's footone (ibid.) corrects Glynne's error and gives alternative sources for the inscription]. Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a noteworthy baptismal font of the Perpendicular period: "this octagon font of grey marble has a shield of arms on each face, namely, Tempest, Hamerton, Pudsay and Layton, Pudsay, Banks, Pudsay, Tunstall, and Percy. On a fillet of brass let into the marble is the inscription -- 'Orate p' aiabu' Dni Radulphi Pudsay Milit' et Dne Edw'ne oxor' ejus ac Dni Wili' Pudsay filii eoru' quond' rector huj' ecclie'. William Pudsay was rector of Bolton from 1448 to 1507. Slater (1880) notes that "Henry Pudsey, of Bolton, near Gisbury [...] together with his wife Margaret Coniers, of Hornby Castle, Lancashire, was buried in Bolton Church, where he had built a fine font". A full inscription and description is provided also in Morris (1932). Pevsner (1986 c1967) writes: "Font. A solid and impressive Perp[endicular] piece with an inscription dating it to after c. 1507. Concave-sided octagonal bowl on concave-sided octagonal foot. Decoration with coats of arms." Described in [www.btinternet.com/~sm.proctor/wp_churches.htm] as an "impressive 16th century font with 'Mouseman' cover". Studied in detail in Badham & Blacker (2014), who identify the arms as follows [clockwise, starting on the E side]: 1. Pudsay, "vert, a chevron between three mullets pierced gold; 2. Bankes, "blue a cross gold between four fleurs-de-lis gold"; 3. Pudsay, impaled with Tunstall "sable three combs silver"; 4. Percy, "gold a lion rampant azure"; 5. Clifford, "checky azure and gold a fesse gules"; 6. Tempest, "silver a bend between six martlets sable"; 7. Hammerton, "silver three hammers sable"; 8. Pudsay quartered with Layton, silver a fess between six crosses crosslet fitchée sable". This same source argues for a date of the font ca. 1507, as the alliance Pudsay-Clifford took place in 1506, and the Pudsay-Pilkington marriage took place in 1517; 1507 is the suggested date because it was the time when Henry Pudsay made other important improvements to this church, and happens soon after the death of William Pudsay. The wooden font cover in use at present is described in the Bolton-by-Bowlnd web site [http://bolton-by-bowland.org/churchbuilding.html] [accessed 24 June 2014]: "the oak cover to the font was carved at Robert Thompson's workshop at Kilburn, Yorkshire in 1967 and has his "mouse" trademark on it."