Longstanton No. 1 / Long Stanton / Longstaton All Saints / Stantone / Stantune

There are four entries for Longstanton [All Saints and St. Michael] [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/XX0000/longstanton-all-saints-and-st-michael/] [accessed 30 June 2016], none of which mentions cleric or church in it. This font here is noted in Paley (1844) for its location against the north wall. Paley's Guide of the same year adds: "The font is very fine Decorated, and stands against the north wall of the aisle; it is octagonal, with tracery panels." Cox & Harvey (1907) include the noteworthy baptismal font at "Long Stanton" among the best Decorated fonts in the county. Noted in Kelly's Directory of the county for 1929: "a very fine octagonal font of the Decorated period, with traceried panels". A later period is assigned in Pevsner (1970): "Font. An exceptionally interesting example of the octagonal Perp[endicular] type. The bowl has on its eight sides eight different fanciful varieties of quite plain motifs of Perp tracery, one with an ogee arch, one with quatrefoils, one with trefoil niches under arches, two with a band of crenellation half-way up, and so on." The Victoria County History (Cambridge…, vol. 9, 1989) notes: "The two parish in Long Stanton, All Saints and St. Michael, were both first recorded in 1217. (fn. 1) No evidence has been found for the dependence of either on the other and they presumably originated as distinct manorial within the township. (fn. 2) The benefices were united in 1923 […] but the ecclesiastical parishes remained separate until 1959, when St. Michael's became a chapel of ease to All Saints. […] The church of ALL SAINTS, so called by 1217 […] The greater part of the church dates from a reconstruction after the existing building was damaged by fire in 1349 so completely that it was unusable for services. […] The new church was evidently substantially complete by 1361 […] The octagonal 15th-century font displays a different design of Perpendicular tracery on each face." The Visual Arts Data Service [http://vads.ahds.ac.uk/] [accessed 20 November 2007] has an entry for a June 1838 sketch of this font by Henry E.L. Dryden, in the Sir Henry Dryden Collection "Id Number Current Accession DR/04/236 / Location Current Repository Northamptonshire Central Library / Wash and pencil 25cm x 17cm / Negative Reference MF R02 F355"].