Covenham St. Mary

There are two entries for Covenham [St Bartholomew and St Mary] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/XX0000/covenham-st-bartholomew-and-st-mary/] [accessed 10 February 2019], one of which reports a church in it [cf. infra]. The Covenhams site [https://covenham.org.uk/stmary.htm] [accessed 10 February 2019] notes: "Probably St Bartholomew's was the church of a small priory, where the monks and their servants would say the daily services. St. Mary's was the Church for the people of the parish. In the Domesday Book it is recorded that there was already a church in the parish and Esbern is described as the priest. This church was most probably St. Mary's and the older of the two. [...] The font is also Perpendicular in style and has an unusual pattern. The rim of the bowl is dotted with flowers and around the sides are shields with instruments of our Lord's Passion Such as crosses, nails, hammers and scourges." Paley (1844) has: octagonal mounted font of the 15th century in the Perpendicular style; it is ornamented with a row of four-petal rosettes between the upper rim and a moulding; below the moulding, on each side of the octagonal basin, there is a shield "suspended from hooks, five of which bear emblems of the Crucifixion, as the four nails, the hammers, the scourges, the crown of thorns, the spear, reed, and sponge, and the other three have crosses; below the shields are Tudor flowers, the large leaves of which cover the angles." The underbowl is made of a triple moulding. The stem of the base has its corners hollowed out to appear octagonal except at the bottom where it has a square plant. There is no plinth. Paley (ibid.) reports that "the sculptures and mouldings are in good preservation, but we regret that the effect of the Font is entirely destroyed by a recent painting of lead colour marbled over!"; he also informs that the basin is lined with lead and has a water drain "but, as too frequently the case, it is filled up with dirt" (ibid.) Noted in Sutton (1898), who writes: "We have seen several intreresting fonts in this district, but not one equal to the one in this church for beauty of design or boldness of execution. It is octagonal in form. Round the rim is a small double moulding with square flowers carved at intervals. The sides are adorned with shields with the instruments of the passion carved on each, and round the underneath part is a bold design, terminating with leaves the points of which are at each angle. The whole rests on rather a plain base. This font is standing on a circle of stone, which rather looks as if it might be a portion of a Norman font." Noted in Pevsner, Harris and Antram (1989): "Font. Octagonal, Perp[endicular], an unsual pattern (but cf. East Barkwith). A frieze of little round arches upside down and with finials shields with the Instruments of the Passion." A font found buried beneath the church floor is reported in Stocker (1997), perhaps referring to the "circle of stone" mentioned in Sutton [cf. supra]. The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: TF3396594324] notes: "Parish church. c.1359, C15, late C18, C19. [...] The C15 octagonal font with moulded top has fleurons, beneath which are shields on each face separated by foliage. The base is moulded with stop chamfers to angles."