Alveston / Alwestan

There is an entry for this Alveston [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/ST6288/alveston/] [accessed 2 March 2015], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. A font here is listed in Tymms (1834). This is the original Norman font from Old St. Helen's, the original church in nearby Rudgeway. Very little remains of the old church [cf. Index entry for Rudgeway], but the font was installed in new St. Helen's, Alveston [source: e-mail from John Wilkes, 10 April 2007]. Noted in Bond (1908) as having a basin of the scalloped-capital type. Noted in Verey & Brooks (1999-2002): "Font. Norman, removed from the old church, but much scraped. Plain rectangular bowl with three scallops to each face, on a cylindrical pedestal." The font consists of a square basin with verticals side that are plain but for the three scallops at the bottom; the scallops continue over as ribbing on the underbowl; plain cylindrical stem with narrow splaying lower base, round as well; small quadrangular plinth. Square wooden cover with flat cross partition on the upper surface. Repairs show on at least one side of the upper rim, probably where the old iron staples were removed or broken off.