Wokingham / Oakingham / Ockingham / Okingham / Okyngeham / Wokinghame / Wokyngham / Wokynham

No entry for Wokingham found in the Domesday survey. A font here is described in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a noteworthy baptismal font of the 15th century, in the Perpendicular style. "Engraved in the Wilts Magazine (vol. xxi.)" (ibid.) [NB: C&H list the font at Wokingham both in Berkshire and in Wiltshire - Wokingham is now -2002- part of Berkshire, but the baptismal font in this church, the work of Victorian architect Henry Woodyer, 1864, is illustrated and described in a photograph in Flicker, with original from Oxfordshire Church Illustrations [http://flickr.com/photos/oxfordshire_church_photos/422883918/] [accessed 23 July 2007], "seems to anticipate Art Nouveau with its web of tendrils reminding one of an A. Mucha graphic". [NB: another interesting aspect of this Victorian replacement (?) font is its multilobed cylindrical exterior]. The Victoria County History (Berkshire, vol. 3, 1923) notes: "A chapel at Wokingham, subject to the mother church of Sonning, is mentioned in 1146. [...] There was doubtless an earlier church on the site, containing work of the 12th century, but whether the present walls are on the older foundations is not certain. The south doorway is mostly of modern stonework in the style of the 12th century, but a few stones in its inner arch-order appear to be old and may have belonged to a doorway of that date, originally in the aisle wall. [...] The octagonal font is of the 15th century, and the sides have traceried panels containing roses and other flowers, while its hollow-chamfered under-edge is carved with a sort of guilloche of bold design. The stem also has panelled sides, and the base is moulded."