Aylesbury / Aegelesburh / Aegelesbyrig / Ailesberia / Ailesbiria / Ailisberia / Aillesbyr' / Eilesberia/ Eyllesbir'

There is an entry for Aylesbury [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SP8113/aylesbury/] [accessed 30 Aeptember 2015]; it mentions a church in it. A Norman font here noted and illustrated in Lysons (1806-1833) and in Lipscomb (1831...) Described and illustrated in Batty (1848) [with engraving by P.H. de la Motte from a drawing by E.A.R.], who notes others of this type: "Weston Turville, Monk's Risborough, Great Kimble, &c." The description in Lipscomb is used in Sheahan (1862) [the textual quote from Lipscombe in single quotation marks]: "The font is described by Lipscomb as 'semi spheroidal, with a border of foliage and escaloped grooves contracting towards its pedestal, which is supported on a cube sculptured with semi-circles.' The same author informs us that this beautiful font was disused 'and remained obscured by a coat of blue paint in a corner of the nave, amongst lumber, during many years' (being superseded by a vase on a pedestal of veined marble presented by Mrs. Pytches in 1782), until better taste transferred it to where it now stands, towards the west end of the south aisle of the nave. Its modern cover is of oak (flat) with ornamental iron scroll work painted blue and picked out with gold. The external diameter of the bowl is 2 feet 4 inches. It is lined with lead". In Parker (1850): "The font N[orman], with circular escalloped [sic] bowl, cushion-moulded base, and a double chevron moulding round the shaft" [Parker (ibid.) refers to illustrations of this font in Lysons and Batty]. Sheahan (1862) suggests the original date of the church, between 1200 and 1250. In Murray (1882), as Transtional-Norman. Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the late Norman period. Bond (1908) calls it the "chef-d'oeuvre of the Norman chalice fonts", mounted on an inverted scalloped capital. Noted and illustrated in the RCAHM (Buckinghamshire, 1912) as a noteworthy font of the late-12th century; in the interior plan of this church the font appears at the west end of the south aisle, by the south entranceway. The RCAHM (ibid.) further notes that the font was "found in three pieces buried in débris in different parts of the church". A font profusely ornamented; the basin has a band of foliage knots all around the upper side; the rest of the sides and underbowl are covered in stylised ribbed pattern; a plain moulding is followed down by a double one with what appears like chevron motif, again very stylised; the faces of the cushion lower base have complex foliage motifs with animal heads and other motifs. The Victoria County History (Buckingham, vol. 3, 1925) notes: "the church of St. Mary belonged in the time of Edward the Confessor [1042-1066], and possibly before, to the Bishops of Dorchester [...] The font, of c. 1160, is perhaps the finest example of a type rather common in this neighbourhood. The bowl is cup-shaped, with a broad band of floral ornament round the upper part and hollow flutes below, curving outwards to the base of the carved band. The circular stem is very short, consisting of a torus worked with a double line of zigzag, and the base, which is square, is not unlike an inverted scalloped capital with two large scallops on each side, the vertical faces of which are filled with scrolls of floral ornament in high relief. The chalky stone of which the font is made is easily worked, and there is a freedom and depth of undercutting which makes the work most attractive." Described and illustrated in Stone (1955) as "the finest example" of a type baptismal font of the 12th century -Stone dates it ca. 1170-1180- "which seem to be imitations in stone on a large scale of the shape and ornament of the gold and silver chalice of the metalworker [...] The most remarkable feature of this font is the sure mastery of the technical problem of carving in the round from a single block of stone so complex a shape with such absolute symmetry." Described in Pevsner (1960): "Font. Late 12C. A beautiful, restrained, and civilzed piece. Circular on a square base. The base is treated as a reverse two-scallop capital. The lunettes of the scallops have scroll and leaf decoration, and some spurs of leaf jut forward from the stem on to the base. Short stem, banded. Bowl with spiral fluting and, above, a band of foliage scrolls." Dated in Gardner (1925) and Betjeman (1958) to ca. 1180.