Sulhamstead Abbots / Silhampsted / Sulhamstead Abbas / Sulhampstead Abbott

No entry for Sulhamstead Abbots found in the Domesday survey. A Norman font in this church is reported by Dasent (1890). Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Norman period. Keyser (1911) reports "a good Norman font" in this church. Noted in the Victoria County History (Berkshire, vol. 3, 1923): "The church apparently dates wholly from about 1220 [...] The font is of the 12th century and of tub shape, the sides being ornamented by eight semicircularheaded panels separated by small attached shafts with capitals and bases; the base upon which it stands is modern". The VCH (ibid.) includes a plan of the church that shows the font just inside of the south entrance, to the left [west] of the entrance. The following is noted in 'Parish Plan Initiative', a 2006 [?] document of the Parish Councils of Sulhamstead & Ufton Nervet (SUN) [www.westberks.gov.uk/media/pdf/j/2/Sulhamstead___Ufton_Nervet_Parish_Plan.pdf] [accessed 26 June 2007]: "The font is all that's left of the original Norman church." Described and illustrated in the CRSBI (2015): "Inside S doorway. Tub-shaped with lead-lined basin on circular chamfered base and plinth. The basin is arcaded in eight bays with round-headed, chamfered arches on pilasters with spherical bases and capitals of which six are block-shaped, one has flat leaves and one waterleaf. In the arch spandrels are simple double-leaves (five) or bosses (three), one certainly drilled in the centre. The stone is an oolitic limestone, tinged in places with red possibly indicating fire damage. The W side of the rim has a mortar repair. [...] The font is earlier than any of the fabric of the building, features of its pseudo-architecture pointing to a date c.1170-80."