Kempston / Camestone / Cœmbestunæ / Kemhestun / Kemmeston / Kempstone

There is an entry for this Kempston [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TL0147/kempston/] [accessed 18 September 2015], but it mentions neither cleric nor 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, the basin decorated with "figures under Gothic canopies" on the sides", and raised on a cluster of columns. Noted in Parker (1848) as Decorated. Noted in Kelly's Directory of 1898: "Decorated font, supported by four shafts; the sides have canopies, alternately surmounting mutilated figures". Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Decorated period. The Victoria County History (Bedford, vol. 3, 1912) notes: "The early 12th-century chancel arch and tower give the limits of a contemporary nave, which was probably aisleless; the north aisle was added in the first quarter of the 13th century and the south aisle about 1260; the chancel is on the lines of the 12th-century chancel and may contain masonry of the date, being lengthened in the 13th century, and the south porch is a 15th-century addition, as is the nave clearstory. The upper part of the tower dates from the 15th century, probably replacing a 12th-century upper story. [...] The font is of the 14th century, with a square bowl with the angles chamfered off, having figures on each side under canopies; the base is square, with three-quarter shafts with capitals and bases at each angle." Pevsner (11968) writes: "Font. Square, with chamfered corners, Dec[orated]. Low, broad, crocketed ogee arches with single figures in them." The Parish web site [www.allsaintskempston.com/our-church/visitor-guide/page1.html] [accessed 19 October 2011] notes: "The 14th Century stone font, with beautiful carvings of the Saints and the Apostles around its sides, was mutilated during the Commonwealth period by the soldiers and agents of Oliver Cromwell. One can still see the marks of the chisels used to wreak the destruction. The ornate, octagonal oak cover dates from 1901."