Cherry Hinton / Hintone

There is an entry for [Cherry] Hinton [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TL4856/cherry-hinton/] [accessed 19 July 2016], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Paley's Guide (1844) reports a "circular and plain" font here. Dated in Cox & Harvey (1907) to the Early English period. Kelly's directory for this county (1929) reports a "plain, circular font on a pedestal". Described in the RCHM (Cambridge, 1959): "cir cular stone bowl with plain tapering sides, late 12th or early 13th-century, on cylindrical stem substituted in 1811 for five small shafts." The Victoria County History (Cambridge and the Isle of Ely, vol. 10, 2002) notes: "There was a parish church by the 12th century […] Although heavily restored in the 19th century, Cherry Hinton is one of the finest and most complete Early English parish churches in the county. […] The earliest features are the later 12thcentury responds of the tower arch, which have small attached shafts with plain capitals on their eastern angles, and the core of the tower which is at a slightly different angle to the rest of the building. […] The font, which has a circular bowl with plain tapering sides, is late 12th- or early 13th-century, and had a five-shafted base until 1811 when the present pedestal was substituted." Described and iIllustrated in the CRSBI (2016): "At W end of nave. A plain circular tub on a modern tapered shaft with a low bulbous base. The basin is circular and lead lined." Described in Cambridgeshire Churches [www.druidic.org/camchurch/] as a baptismal font of the Norman period. The St. Andrew's Parish web site [http://www.ely.anglican.org/parishes/cherry-hinton/history1.html] [accessed 14 October 2007] notes: "the plain circular stone font, which down to the 18th century stood upon five pillars, is of the same period [..] In 1811 the early font, dating probably from the first church, was brought. into use and placed on its present stone pedestal. It appears to have been rescued after having been thrown out. Its five original pillars seem to have been lost beyond recall" [from "The Story of Cherry Hinton Church" by Dr. Alice Parsons, with additional material by The Revd. John Yule and The Revd. Stephen Leeke. All of the information in the history of the Church is copyright 1987 St Andrew's Parochial Church Council."] The basin has repair patches that appear to coincide with the position of the iron staples of the old cover.