Stoke-sub-Hamdon / East Stoke / Stoca / Stoche / Stoke-under-Ham

There are four entries for Stoke [-sub-Hamdon] [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/ST4717/stoke-sub-hamdon/] [accessed 12 February 2017], none of which mentions cleric or church in it. The Handbook for travellers… (1869) reports: "The font is Norman, with the chain and lozenge moulding." Listed in Bond (1908) as a baptismal font of the Norman period. Wade & Wade (1929) report a "font with cable and lozenge mouldings" in this church [NB: the 'lozenge' is actually the result of half of the braid moulding being broken off]. Listed in Hutton (1957) simply as a baptismal font of the Transitional period. Described in Pevsner (1958). The entry for this parish in the Victoria County History (Somerset, vol. 3, 1974) notes: "Architectural evidence places the foundation of the church in Norman times or earlier. (fn. 299) The first known rector was recorded in 1174 × 1180 [...] [Church] said in 1840 and 1859 to be dedicated to St. Denys. [...] In 1861 the dedication was said to be unknown. [...] From at least 1866 until about 1891 the dedication was to St. Andrew and thereafter to the Virgin [...] The first addition to the Norman church was the base of the north tower which forms a stone-vaulted north transept, now used as the chapel of St. Denys. It was built c. 1200 [...] The large circular font is Norman and has a moulded base and two boldly projecting bands of cable ornament, one combined with lozenges." The font is practically cylindrical, with three markedly protruding horizontal mouldings that divide the font into three equal parts; the upper moulding, corresponding roughly to the bottom of the basin, is a braid that, in places where it is damaged, resembles a band of diamond motif; the next moulding is a rope or cable, correspoding roughly to the top of the lower base; the bottom moulding is a round moulding of the type known as "pudding moulding" and marks the very bottom of the font. There are signs of bot damage and repair to the sides of the font, with some replacement stone obvious at the upper rim where the staples of the old cover might have been removed. The plain wooden cover on the font now [2004] appears modern.