Oxford No. 2 / Oxeneford

There are thirteen entries for Oxford [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SP5106/oxford/] [accessed 9 November 2016], two of which mention a church in each. Poole (1842) notes that this font is mentioned in "the memorials of Oxford" and in "the glossary of Architecture". The Ecclesiastical and Architectural Topography of England: Oxfordshire (1850) reports "a fine P[erpendicular] font" in this church at the time. Gardener's Gazetteer of 1852 [www.historicaldirectories.org/hd/d.asp] [accessed 30 June 2007] still reported the font in St. Martin's new 1822 church [demolished in 1896]: "The font though in a mutilated state is a rich specimen of the style prevalent in the 14th century." Described by Bond (1908) as one of a group of "unmounted fonts of the fifteenth century". Lambert (1945) reports that the organ from St. Martin's was sold to Cowley and the font "at which, tradition says, Shakespeare had stood godfather to Sir William Davenant, is now [i.e., ca. 1945] in All Saints' Church". The Victoria County History (Oxford, vol. 4, 1979) entry for the church of All Saints notes that: "The 18th-century font (fn 1. [Bodl. MS. Top Oxon. C 299, f. 44]) was replaced by the font from St. Martin's in 1896. The old font was moved later still to St. Michael's, where it remains." The VCH entry for St. Martin's (ibid.) notes: "The church [...] was granted to Abingdon abbey in 1032 by King Cnut, in confirmation of an earlier grant by Athelwin. It was probably then a private church, part of the haga in which Athelwin had lived, [...] but it soon became the town church [...] In 1818 the church was declared unsafe by four different builders, and in 1820, despite several protests, all but the tower was pulled down and a new church [...] was built [...] In 1896 the church was sold to the city corporation [...] and demolished except for the tower which was restored [...] The 14th-century font was removed to All Saints church in 1896, [...] and to St. Michael at the North Gate in 1971."