Woolhampton / Ollavintone / Wllamnton / Wolavyngton / Wolhampton / Woulhampton

There is an entry for Woolhampton [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SU5766/woolhampton/] [accessed 30 April 2015], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. The National Archives web site [www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/a2a/records.aspx?cat=192-acc100&cid=8#8] [accessed 5 December 2011] lists the contents of a book 'Antique and Armorial Collections from Various Churches' [Volume III Acc 100/N2 1813-1819] which contains an illustration of "Font in St. Peter's Woolhampton (See page 69)" and "Font with small figure of St. Peter (See page 69)" This made be one of the bronze statuettes that adorned the stone font [cf. Parker below]. This may be the same item reported in the British Museum's Catalogue of the manuscript maps, charts and plans[...] of 1844 (col. 1, p. 167) as" Pen and ink drawing of the font in Woolhampton Church; by Samuel Lysons, Esq.: 6 in. x 4 in. (Add 9460. fol. 57). Described in Parker (1850): "The font is N[orman], round with circular arches and figures formed of lead, the font itself is of stone." The National Gazetteer of 1868 reports "an antique font" in this church. Andre (1882), however, notes: "Woolhampton font has the metal cut away at the back of each image, showing a stone foundation round which the lead has been pressed. [NB: were they part of a font that had been destroyed?] Noted in Lethaby (1893). Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a lead baptismal font of the Norman period. The Victoria County History (Berkshire, vol. 3, 1923) notes: "The church of St. Peter was rebuilt in 1857, the nave walls of the old church being encased in the present walls. [...] All the internal fittings are modern, but a 12th-century font is said to be buried under the floor." The modern, 19th-century font, consists of an octagonal basin on the usual base of marble columns so liked by the Victorians. [NB: if the references above are correct the old font must have been buried before 1923, when the VCH reported the modern font in use and the old one buried].