Arlesey / Ailricheseye / Aldrichsey / Alricesei / Alriceseia / Alriceseie / Alricheseia / Alrilseye / Alriselei / Arleycheseye / Arlsey

There is are four entries for Arlesey in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TL1936/arlesey/] [accessed 22 July 2016], none of which mentions cleric of church in it. A font here is noted in Lysons (1806-1833) as one of a group of octagonal fonts made mostly of Totternhoe stone: "Arlesey has figures of Adam and Eve, the crucifixion, &c. in compartments, some of which appear never to have been finished, and others have been much mutilated". Described in Cox & Harvey (1907): "the most remarkable font of the next [i.e., 15th] century. The sculptures in niches illustrate the Fall, the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, and the Mouth of Hell; round the stem are ecclesiastics; unfortunately it is much mutilated". The Victoria County History (Bedford, vol. 2, 1908) notes: "The earliest details in the church belong to the first twenty years of the thirteenth century. [...] The font is a good but somewhat mutilated example of late fourteenth-century work. The bowl is octagonal, and has panelled sides in which are carved subjects representing the Fall of Man and the Atonement. They are as follows:—1. The Creation of the World. 2. The Creation of Adam. 3. The Creation of Eve. 4. The Temptation. 5. Adam and Eve driven from the Garden. 6. Eve spinning and Adam delving. 7. The Jaws of Hell gaping to receive two shrouded figures, probably meant for Adam and Eve. 8. The Crucifixion. Round the panels are rosettes, which are complete in every respect in the first panel, but gradually become more unfinished as they go round the font, until in the seventh they are only marked out for carving, and in the eighth they do not appear at all. The stem of the font has at its angles four figures, the first a priest, the second a deacon, and the third St. John the Baptist, while the fourth is too damaged to be identified." On-site notes: octagonal mounted font has had the scenes of the basin sides and the figures of the base wilfully obliterated: the scenes on the sides of the basin are: 1)Creation; 2)creation of Adam; 3)creation of Eve; 4)Fall; 5)expulsion from Eden; 6)Adam and Eve at work; 7)Mouth of Hell; 8)Crucifixion. The four figures on alternate sides of the base appear to be ecclesiastics; the other four sides have four trefoil arches each. The font has been restored recently; the web site of Worthington Stone Carving [www.worthingtonstonecarving.co.uk/experience/exp.html] claims credit for "Carved repair to eleventh century font (Cambridge Clunch Stone)" done in 2006 on the font at Arlesey, Bedfordshire, by Katherine Worthington, professional architectural stone carver.