Rotherfield Greys / Redbefeld / Rotherfield Grays

There is an entry for Rotherfield [Greys] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SU7282/rotherfield-greys/] [accessed 15 January 2017], but it mentions neither priest nor church in it. The font here is noted, and illustrated with a drawing by J. Basire, in Gough (1792): "an oblong vessel with pilasters at the corners and hollowed in a round bason". Gough (ibid.) footnotes a reference to Sir H.C. Englefield's description of this font: "it is different in its form from any which he had seen; and appears to be of very high antiquity, its whole appearance is very much that of a sarcophagus; and it probably was taken from some vase of that kind." Englefield is obviously intrigued by this font shape, and goes on to find similar pedigree in the fonts at Winchester and Lincoln cathedrals, all of which he traces back to funerary vases of Italian antiquity. Tymms (1834) writes of this font: "Norman, of a peculiar classical shape and character." Described by Paley (1844) as "a good and remarkably perfect Early English example". The Ecclesiastical and Architectural Topography of England: Oxfordshire (1850) notes: "The font good E[arly] E[nglish], square with shafts at the angles", and adds a reference to the illustration in Paley (1840). Gardner's Gazetteer (1852) [www.historicaldirectories.org/hd/d.asp] [accessed 30 June 2007] describes the font as "Saxon", without further comment. Described in 'Church notes...' (1887) in the context of some "notes [that] were taken between 1835 and 1840": "the font [...is] either Norman or early English". The basin of this font is trapezoidal, rather than square, since it tapers in markedly towards the bottom, and is mounted on a squat square base; the sides at the corners have been carved into elegant columns with foliated capitals and plain round bases; the base has "the characteristic round and deep hollow mouldings of the period" (ibid.) Lewis' Dictionary of 1848 reports "a font of singular shape" in this church. Described in Sherwood & Pevsner (1974): "Font. Of c. 1200. Square; shafts with water-leaf and stiff-leaf capitals." The Victoria County History (Oxfordshire, vol. 16, 2011) notes: "By the 13th century the church of Rotherfield Greys was fully independent, although there is no evidence of a church on the present site before c. 1200. The earliest architectural features are a plain round-headed doorway in the nave and a square font, both of early 13th-century type [...] The square font has angle shafts with water-leaf and stiff-leaf capitals [...] The church's medieval dedication is not known. The present dedication to St Nicholas is modern".