Fenny Bentley / Benedlege

There is an entry for Fenny Bentley [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SK1750/fenny-bentley/] [accessed 5 January 2015]; it reports a priest, a church and church lands in it, Cox (1875-1877) notes that Fenny Bentley was one of the chapelries of Ashbourne "as late as the year 1240. But soon after that date, it obtained independence as a distinctive rectory", and it appears as such in the 1291 Taxation Roll of Pope Nicholas IV; Cox (ibid.) further notes: "This church is generally supposed to be dedicated in honour of St. Mary Magdalene; but unless some authority of which we are ignorant can be produced, it must now be admitted to belong to St. Edmund, King and Martyr. [...] At the west end of the church is the ancient font, which is of an earlier date than the general fabric of the building. Its height is three feet six inches, and the dianeter across the top two feet three. Both the font itself and the base are circular; but the font, which is of a red gritstone, is channelled with six panels of varying size, and the base, which is of a grey gritstone. has six channels or deep flutings cut into it, the one facing east having some foliage growing from a pot carved in it." Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Late Norman or Transitional period.