Ashbury / Æscesburh / Æcesburuh / Æcesbyrig / Aissebyri / Asbury / Aschebury / Asheburye / Ayssebury / Eissesberie [Domesday] / Esseberia / Isbury

There is an entry for this Ashbury [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SU2685/ashbury/] [accessed 8 May 2015]; it mentions a church and a hide of church lands here. Cox & Harvey (1907) list a baptismal font of the Perpendicular period here. The Victoria County History (Berkshire, vol. 4, 1924) notes: "The oldest parts of the building are of 12thcentury date [...] The font is octagonal with panelled sides, each with a four-leaved flower within a circle. It is of 15th-century date and stands on three modern steps near the north doorway." The basin is octagonal, with a moulding at the upper rim, below which are floral motifs inscribed in quatrefoil-in-a-circle panels; it is interesting to note that some of the panels are rotated from the more common cross-like position, to have the lobes of the quatrefoil in a X position; a moulding adorns the lower rim of the basin; the octagonal stem is plain but for a thin moulding at the top end; the lower base is slightly wider but plain. The octagonal wooden cover is flat and plain, with a wooden handle; appears modern. The font is raised on a polygonal plinth. There is significant damage to the basin, a longitudinal crack around the lower basin side appears to go right through. [NB: we have no information on the font from the Domesday-time church]