Kettlebaston / Kittlebeornastuna / Chetelberneston

There is an entry for Kettlebaston in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TL9650/kettlebaston/] [accessed 3 December 2016], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Parker (1855) writes: "Font, very early; a square, on legs." Listed in Cautley (1982) as a baptismal font of the 12th century. Noted and illustrated in Gourlay (2004): "late Norman font dating probably from c.1160-80. Such fonts are rare in Suffolk, although another (and more elaborate example) may be seen at Preston St. Mary, about 1 1/4 miles to the west. The square bowl rests upon square pillars at each corner (notice how the north-western one has been placed upside-down) and an octagonal (and maybe slightly later) central shaft [...] The font lid was made in 1929, when the lead lining of the bowl was pierced to drain the baptismal water down the stem of the font and into the earth." Noted and illustrated in Knott (2008). Noted and illustrated in the CRSBI (2016), where it is suggested the font may a composite of two different periods: "The font has a bowl that is approximately square, standing on a central square shaft with chamfers making it octagonal. At the foot the shaft flares out and the chamfers die to points, so that the footprint is square. At the top the octagonal shaft flares to an octagonal upper surface. The angle shafts are square, chamfered on the outer angle only, and with moulded capitals and bases similarly uncarved on the faces under the bowl. The NW shaft is inverted. The shafts stand on a square chamfered block. The bowl is 12thc; the supports 13thc. The bowl is cut from two square slabs. The lower slab, thin and undecorated, rests on the shafts; the upper has a plain band below the upper rim, then a band of single cable running around the bowl. Below this is a row of sawtooth on every face except the west, and the rectangular fields on the four faces are decorated with relief designs, described below. The angles are carved with clustered shafts with fictive scalloped capitals with cable neckings", and, after commenting on the dcharacteristics of the church doorway, the CRSBI entry adds: "it is also possible that the font bowl is contemporary with its supports, but this seems extremely unlikely in view of the irregularity of the bowl itself and of its carved motifs. It is suggested here, therefore, that the bowl dates fromc.1120-40 and the shafts are 13thc. Tricker dates the font to 1160-80. It should be compared with the more elaborate font at Preston St Mary, a mile to the west." On-site notes (7 July 2000): square basin mounted on a central support and four non-constructional colonnettes at the corners, all of them square; the corner shafts have capitals and bases on the two outer faces but are plain on the two inner faces. The sides of the basin are ornamented with different motifs: 1)large herringbone pattern with the angle down and sides up; 2)horizontal bands of saw-tooth pattern; 3)vertical fluting; 4)herringbone pattern as the one on the first side but with the angles up and the sides down. The workmanship is crude all over.