Kinnerley / Chen-ar-dinlle / Chenardeley

There is an entry for Kinnerley [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey] [accessed 1 January 2021], but it mentions neither priest nor church in it. Anderson (1864) states that "Kinnerley Church, originally the mother church of a district, was granted by Griffin Goch, or his son Madoc, before 1248, to the Knights Hospitallers of Jerusalem". Bond (1908) mentions a font here as one of several baptismal fonts bearing the Greek inscription "ΝΙΨΟΝ ΑΝΟΜΗΜΑ ΜΗ ΜΟΝΑΝ ΟΨΙΝ", "Cleanse your sin, not your face only". Ditto Cox & Harvey (1907) who describe the font as a fragment only. Raven's Guide to Shropshire (2005) informs the old font "was used as a piece of garden furniture at a house in West Felton", before being returned to the churchyard at St. Mary's. The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SJ3382520943] does not mention the font but there is another listing specific for the font itself [Listing NGR: SJ3380920937]: "Font. Probably C12. Crudely carved octagonal tub shape with hole in basin. Zig-zag decoration to base and Greek palindromic inscription to rim, largely illegible at time of resurvey (October 1986) but known to read (translated) "CLEANSE YOUR SIN, NOT YOUR FACE ONLY". In early C20 the font stood in the gnounds of The Nursery, West Felton C.P. (not included in this list) but was formerly inside the Church of St. Mary". Newman & Pevsner (2006), report a discarded font in the churchyard, west of the porch: "Difficult to date. The base has a sort of interlace. The now worn rim of the octagonal bowl is inscribed with the Greek palindrome […]". The Kinnerley Parish website [http://www.2shrop.net/live/welcome.asp?id=926] [accessed 13 April 2010] and St. Mary's Church, Kinnerley, Shropshire, The Old Font [www.kinnerleychurch.co.uk/Publisher/File.aspx?ID=193183] [accessed 1 January 2021] informs: "The tower was restored in 1862 by the Reverend E. W. O. Bridgeman who also gave the octagonal font now in the church. He got rid of the original font to make room for his new one. Just when the old font was on the point of being broken up it was rescued by a member of the Dovaston family living in West Felton. By a good stroke of fortune we recovered the font in 1966 and it can now be seen in the churchyard beyond the west wall of the porch. The old font is also octagonal and has cut, round the outside, in bold Greek letters the palindrome which translated reads, "Wash not only my face, but my transgressions also." It is doubtless mediaeval, and rests on an older round base, carved with linear patterns. Dr. Crannage [sic] says that the base is twelfth century, or even earlier." [NB: reference to D.H.S. Cranage's 1894-1912 series on Shropshire churches]. Further to the troubles underwent by this font: an email from Graham Price [http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/ENG-SHROPSHIRE-PLUS/2002-01/1010992559] [accessed 13 April 2010] includes the following information: "The old font which was "rescued from destruction by a gentleman who was passing the church when some workmen were breaking it into pieces to mend the churchyard wall… is now in the grounds of Mrs. DOVESTON of West Felton." (My capitals!)" [we have no information on the source]