Tideswell / Tidesuuelle

There is an entry for Tideswell [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SK1575/tideswell/] [accessed 21 February 2015]; it mentions a priest, a church and church lands in it. Cox (1875-1877) quotes from Pegge's 1781 [Mary Sterndale?] comments on this church and its contents: "In a corner of a transept is an ancient font; it is now regularly used by the workpeople to mix their colours in, when they beautify the church with blue and mahogany paint"; Cox (ibid.) adds that the font "was rescued by the present vicar, and restored to the church. It is of octagon shape, and has various devices, including a chalice and an open book, incised on its different faces." Noted in Kelly's Directory of 1891. Bond (1908) repeats the information from Pegge and Cox: "The font at Tideswell was found by a late vicar in a rubbish heap, where it had been left by the eighteenth century churchwardens, who used it as the parish paint pot when they beautified the church with blue and mahogany paint". English Heritage [Listing NGR: SK1525675774] (1967) reports a "Medieval font with octagonal bowl and fluted stem on a circular base. Bowl decorated with quatrefoil, chalice, shield and book devices", which matches other descriptions except for the "fluted stem"; was there another stem at the time or is it simply an error? Bunting (2001) gives the date of the painters' deed as "170 years ago", i.e., 1831. None of the above sources mentions the date of the font, though Bunting calls it "ancient". Pevsner (1978) writes: "Font. Perp[endicular], octagonal, with shields and simple panels." The panels of the basin are now [2007] very worn and only outlines can be discerned; the pedestal base is octagonal, with a central moulding constraining the shape; raised on a circular plinth. The wooden cover is octagonal and flat, with metal decoration and ring handle; appears modern.