Hendon / Handone

There is an entry for this Hendon [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ2189/hendon/] [accessed 12 June 2019]; it reports a priest and "0.05 church lands" but not a church itself in it, though there probably was one there. A communication in the March 1786 issue of Gentleman's Magazine reads: "the font in the church [...] stands on the left hand of the principal entrance, and is very remarkable for the antiquity of its appearance, being of a square form abd very large, having its sides ornamented with columns, supporting circular arches; which are, to the best of my recollection, in a taste of Norman architecture, and rudely executed." A later communication in the issue of July 1787 in the same magazine [cf. supra] includes a drawing of the font and a brief description: "it appears to be of great antiquity, the arches being truly Gothic; it is made of stone, lined with lead, and has brass plug at the bottom (almost decayed by time) to let the water out." This font is noted in Gough (1792), with reference to the engraving [cf. supra] in The Gentleman's Magazine. Lewis' Dictionary of 1848 reports "a Norman font" in this church. The National Gazetteer of 1868 records "a very antique ancient font" in the interior of this church [http://homepages.gold.ac.uk/genuki/MDX/Hendon/HendonHistory.html]. The Encyclopedia Britannica (1911 ed.) entry for Hendon, Middlesex, reports a Norman font in this church [source: Online Encyclopedia [http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/HEG_HIG/HENDON.html]. Described in Cox & Harvey (1907) as an early square Norman font "of unusually large proportions". [NB: this same source (ibid.) lists the font again under Middlesex]. Described and illustrated in Bond (1908) as a rectangular monolithic baptismal font of the Norman period, of the type in which "the intersecting arcade is the primary or the sole motif of the design." Noted in Pevsner (1951): "Font. Heavy square bowl on short shafts; each side has eight intersected arcades on short columns with block capitals. Of the Norman fonts of Middlesex this is the most successful." The entry for this parish in the Victoria County History (Middlesex, vol. 5, 1976) notes: "There was a priest at Hendon in 1086. [...] A church was mentioned in 1157 [...] There is no mention of the church at Hendon in early grants of the manor to Westminster (fn. 6) but in 1157 Pope Adrian IV confirmed that the abbey held the advowson, [...] as was subsequently reaffirmed by the bishop of London. [...] Excavations during restoration in 1929-31 are said to have revealed the foundations of the 12thcentury chancel. The church was rebuilt and enlarged in the 13th, 15th, and early 16th centuries. There were restorations in 1783 and 1827 and in 1915 the building was doubled in size, giving it an almost square plan [...] The church contains a mid- to late-12th-century font"; all other churches in Hendon are modern. The font is still in situ in 2005 [cf. web site of the Parish in www.hendonstmary.co.uk], but it is now mounted on five squat columns and a plinth, and covered with a flat quadrangular wooden cover. [NB: some sources date the church ca. 1080, which could perhaps be the date of the font itself]