Thornton Curtis / Torentone [Domesday] / Torentune

There are two entries for Thornton [Curtis] [variant spellings] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/TA0817/thornton-curtis/] [accessed 30 April 2019] neither of which mentions cleric or church in it. Lewis' Dictionary of 1848 reports "a curiously-carved font" in this church. Described in Cox-Harvey (1907) as a remarkably carved Tournai font of black marble of the Transition period. Noted in Pevsner, Harris and Antram (1989): "One of the ten black Tournai marble fonts in England (cf. Lincoln Cathedral). It is, like all the others, square. On the sides affronted birds and beasts, two pairs on each side. Five supports." Described and illustrated in Drake (2002). The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: TA0879417871] notes: "Parish church. Late C12 - early C13 chancel, C13 tower, nave arcades and south door, C14 aisles, C15 tower parapet. Restorations of 1884 [...] Very fine C12 black Tournai marble font: square top with opposed pairs of carved animals to sides, standing on a cylindrical column with shafts to each corner on a square base." On-site notes: one of the worst preserved of the English Tournai fonts, the original basin having suffered much damage to its sides all around; it is a square-basin font mounted on a columnar base; the modern base [not the original, which has been lost] has a broad centre pillar with four detached corner colonnettes. The lower base is square and has been raised on a modern limestone plinth with kneeling stone. The basin sides (L->R) are ornamented thus: 1)two pairs of griffins; 2)a pair of lions, another lion and a dog; 3)lion and bird, two pairs; 4)2 pairs of dragons. The basin is lined with lead and has a central drain. The upper surface of the basin has palmette motif in all four spandrels. The lower base is very worn and has lost all trace of any ornamentation it may have had.