Waltham Holy Cross / Waltham Abbey

There are two entries for Waltham [Holy Cross] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/TL3800/waltham-holy-cross/] [accessed 27 May 2022], neither of which mentions a church in it; the canons of Waltham Holy Cross are mentions only as owners. The font here is mentioned in The Penny Cyclopaedia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (vol. 10, 1838: 24): "The font is apparently very antient". Noted in Winters (1888): "The Font of the Abbey Church has been entirely changed in shape and character, by successive modern alterations. Originally it was a square bowl [...] with arcaded sides, the panels sunk about half-an-inch, and a sharp moulding round the lower edge. It was supported on a central pillar one foot four inches in diameter, and four angle columns 3 3/4 inches in diameter. Years ago the angles of the bowl were cut away so as to make it octagonal, and the smaller supporting columns were removed, and the whole font was coated with paint. During the restoration of the church (1859-600, the bowl was further reduced by the removal of the mutilated arcades, still leaving the shape octagonal. It is now considered a fine font of Purbeck marble, but all trace of its original character is gone." Noted in the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (Essex, 1916-1923): "Font: octagonal bowl, of Purbeck marble, c. 1200, probably re-cut." The Victoria County History (Essex, vol. 5, 1966) notes: "During the reign of Cnut, Tofig founded a church with two priests at Waltham. In 1060 Harold rebuilt or enlarged the church and placed there a college of secular canons under a dean. Henry II, in 1177, replaced the college by a priory of Austin canons regular, which became an abbey in 1184. [...] The fittings of the church include a Purbeck marble font of the 12th or 13th century". Listed in Leach (1975) as a font made of Purbeck marble; "plain and probably recut". In Pevsner (1976): "Font. Of Purbeck marble, octagonal, C12 or C13, absolutely plain." The Rev. H.R. Darby ([s.d.]) relates that the Purbeck marble font had "originally a square bowl with arcaded sides standing on a central pillar and four angle columns, but during its long history it has been altered at various times." The photograph provided in the same source shows a plain octagonal basin mounted on a broad cylindrical pedestal which has a base of torus-scotia-torus shape and a small square lower base. The whole rests on an octagonal plinth of obviously different stone. A flat octagonal wooden cover with metal fittings appears modern. Only the central pedestal of the base remains intact (?) of what must have been a typical table-top type font.