Whaddon nr. Royston / Wadone / Wadune

There are nine entries for this Whaddon [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TL3446/whaddon/] [accessed 8 June 2016], none of which mention a church in it; two of the entries, however, mention a priest as lord: "Thorbert the priest" was lord of one part in 1066, under the overlordship of Earl Algar and Archbishop Stigand; Ralph, the priest, became lord in 1086 of the part tenanted by Count Alan of Brittany [NB: although no church is mentioned it is quite likely a church or two did exist here at the time. Cox & Harvey (1907) list a baptismal font of the Perpendicular period here. Noted in Pevsner (1970): "Font. Octagonal, Perp[endicular], with blank arches on the stem and pointed quatrefoil panels on the bowl. Only one of them, that pointing E, has a shield. It contains the arms of the d'Eschallers family" [NB: perhaps the 'Scales' family? (descendants of Hardwinus de Scalariis?) -- cf. 'Cambridgeshire', LoveToKnow 1911 Online Encyclopedia. © 2003, 2004 LoveToKnow -- http://64.1911encyclopedia.org/C/CA/CAMBRIDGESHIRE.htm)]. The Victoria County History (Cambridge..., vol. 8, 1982) notes: "There was presumably a church in 1086, when Ralph the priest held land in Whaddon. [...] The [present] chancel and the chancel arch, which has some dog-tooth moulding, date from the late 13th century. The nave and tower were rebuilt in the later 14th century"; no font mentioned in the VCH entry. Noted in the Cambridgeshire Churches (2004): "at the end of the north aisle, there is a contemporary [i.e., Perpendicular] font. Like the other 15th century work here, it is relatively plain: the only decoration is sober panelling on the shaft and seven faces of the bowl. The eighth, which faces east, has a carving of the shield of the d'Eschallers family, who were lords of the manor here between the Norman Conquest and the 15th century". [We are grateful to Ben Colburn and Mark Ynys-Mon, of Cambridgeshire Churches, for their information on this font, and for the photographs of the church]. The Whaddon Church guide [http://whaddon.org/church/church_guide.html] [accessed 19 December 2007] notes: "The font, by the north door, is octagonal in shape and bears the arms of the de Scalers on the eastern face. It would appear to have been without a cover at some time as in a visitation in 1685 it was reported: 'At Whaddon the font wants Cover and Plugge' " [NB: there may have existed an earlier font in the 13th-century original church].