Finchampstead / Finchamestede / Finchamstead / Finghamstede / Fynchamstede

There is an entry for Finchampstead [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SU7963/finchampstead/] [accessed 26 March 2015], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. A font here is illustrated in a 1818 drawing by J.C. Buckler. Illustrated in a 31 December 1839 watercolour by Henry E.L. Dryden, now in the Sir Henry Dryden Collection, Northamptonshire [Dryden painted St. James church font from an 1818 drawing by J. C. Buckler that was in the possession of Sir T. Phillips] [NB: the tub-shaped font rests on a broad hexagonal pedestal ill-suited to the basin]. Noted in Parker (1855): "The font is good N[orman], with a circular bowl ornamented with an arcade, and nail-head mouldings." Noted in illustrated in Lyon (1895), who includes two illustrations showing the font 'before-and-after' the 1855 alteration: "The font appears to be older than any other part of the church. Sir Arthur Blomfield considers that it may have belonged to about the year 1030, although, as he says, there must always be some uncertainty in assigning an exact date to such work. The base and shaft on which it now stands are of modern construction ; they were made only in the year 1855. I have lately found a drawing of the font, as it existed in the year 1814, in the library of the Dean and Chapter of Durham Cathedral, and I have since been favoured by Mr. C. A. Buckler, the son of Mr. Buckler who made the original sketch in 1814, with a tracing of that sketch, a copy of which is here given. The bowl of the font, it will be observed, then stood upon an hexagonal shaft. The mouldings of the circular bowl at the time the sketch was taken were covered with many coats of whitewash, which almost concealed the carved work, and this was only removed in 1855, when the bowl was placed upon its present stand." Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a noteworthy baptismal font of the Norman period. Noted and illustrated in the Victoria County History (Berkshire, vol. 3, 1923): "The chancel and nave date from the 12th century, but with the exception of a pillar piscina and the font no details of that period remain […] The font, of coarse limestone, has a fine circular bowl of 12th-century workmanship, with sloping sides enriched with twisted or spiral roll and bead ornament, and moulded and carved round the lower edge. The stem and base are modern." The Parish website [www.stjames.finchampstead.co.uk] [accessed 28 April 2010] notes: "The font was found at the bottom of the hill in a local field and was replaced back in the Church in its rightful place with a new 'stand' on which it now sits today." [NB: the lower base appears worn enough to look original, but it may be just wear and tear; the stem is certainly 19th-century. The church underwent renovations between August 2009 and March 2010, a photographic record of which was posted in Flickr [http://www.flickr.com/photos/stjfinch/] [accessed 28 April 2010]