Sparsholt nr. Wantage / Spersolt

There are four entries for this Sparsholt [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SU3487/sparsholt/] [accessed 27 May 2015], one of which mentions a church and one hide of church lands in it; this part of Sparsholt had been in the lordship of Edred the priest (and three "free men") in 1066, who, interestingly, appears to have retained the lordship albeit shared with King William in 1086. A font here is described in 'Church notes...' (1887) in the context of some "notes [that] were taken between 1835 and 1840": "The font rude Norman." Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Norman period [cf. Index entry for Sparsholt No. 1 for a font from the Saxon period (?)]. Described and illustrated in the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland: "Plain, bucket shaped on modern inverted bucket shaped column of three courses. Surface retooled. Irregular horizontal break around bowl. Lead lined." The Victoria County History (Berkshire, vol. 4, 1924) notes: "There was a church at Sparsholt before the Conquest. It was situated on the king's demesne land, and was held both of Edward the Confessor and William I by Edred the priest. [...] The font has a plain cylindrical bowl of the 12th or 13th century". Described in David Nash Ford (2001) [www.brkshirehistory.com/churches/sparsholt.html] [accessed 31 April 2004]: "A Norman replacement was built in the late 12th century" [NB: a replacement of the older font from "the old wooden Saxon Church which once stood in the same site" (ibid.) -- we have no information on the font of the pre-Conquest church].