Leigh nr. Swindon / The Leigh

Bond (1908) relates that "the font at Leigh, near Cricklade, was alienated and applied to base uses c. 1630; the stem was found built up in the church ower; the bowl was picked up in a neighbouring village". Buck (1951) refers to an article by architect C.E. Ponting in The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine (vol. XXX) in which details of how "the Vicar discovered the bowl being used as a cheese-press at an inn at Ashton Keynes, it previously having been used as a cattle-trough, and that he (Mr. Ponting) recognised it as belonging to the stem which he had discovered under the floor of the nave. He the reuninted the two parts for use in the new church after alienation for nearly 270 years". There are two fonts now [2006] in this church. James Fielding, on his visit of 28 January 2006 wrote: "The font is of quatrefoil shape and is probably Early English." [under heading "William Morris & the Locked Churches of Wiltshire', in 'Accounts of a church photographer: the trials and tribulations of a photographer of churches and other buildings', [http://digiatlas.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_digiatlas_archive.html]. A notice in the church informs that the 18th-century baluster-type font was recently [?] returned from Ashton Keynes; the original 13th-century font has disappeared "during the early 16th century. The bowl was discovered in 1897 by the rector. the Revd M J Milling. It has been in use as a cheese press in one of the village inns. The stem and base of the font were found beneath the timber supports of the tower on being dismantled prior to transfer to the new site. The reunited elements of the [old] font are now in use in the parish church."