Ranworth / Randuorda / Randworda

There is an entry for Ranworth [variant spelling] in the Domesday book [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/TG3514/ranworth/] [accessed 7 May 2014], but it mentions neither church nor cleric in it. Blomefield (1805-1810) writes: "The Church is dedicated to St. Helen [...] and being appropriated to the abbey of Langley, a vicarage was settled [...] and the right of patronage to it, in the 3d of Edward III [i.e., 1330] [...] Before this, it appears from the register of Langley abbey, that there was a contest about the church of Pankford's being a chapel belonging to the church of Randworth. One of the witnesses deposed that he had heard it said from more ancient times, [...] that there were two powerful sisters, who enjoyed Randworth and Pankford, and they quarrelled who should take place in Randworth church; that being then the church for both townships, upon which one of the sisters built a wooden oratory in Pankford, (where now is the stone church) but the rector of Ranworth had all the profit thereof; at length, (as the neighbours said) a woman named Elswyd, having the right of the said church and oratory, married Ralph, chaplain or curate of Stokesby, to whom she gave the said church and oratory; by Elswyd he had a son Hermer, who enjoyed it. [...] By the said register it appears that Ralph de Stokesby was instituted by Bishop Everard, in the reign of Henry I. and Elswyd before mentioned; after this Hermer her son, by Ralph the chaplain, Hermer being instituted by William Turbe, Bishop of Norwich. After the death of Elswyd, the manor and advowson of Ranworth, came as an escheat to William de Cheney, chief lord of the fee". [NB: although no exact date is given for 'Elswyd', Everard died ca. 1146, and Turbe in 1174, all of which would suggest the church of Ranworth existed before those dates]. Bond (1908) refers to the disappeared Gothic font cover that used to exist in this church: "One of the finest was at Ranworth [...], which, having been damaged by the fall of the angel of lead which served as counterpoise, was swept away as useless lumber at a 'restoration' early in the nineteenth century"; the cover "was given in 1505 by Thomas Archer and Agnes his wife" [NB: Bond does not mention the font itself]. James (1930) describes the screen in this church as "the most famous of all, I think, in the country", which may give an idea of the workmanship on the now-lost font cover. Listed in Leach (1975) as a font made of Purbeck marble. The font is described in Pevsner & Wilson (1997): "Octagonal C13 Purbeck marble with the usual blank arcade, unusual in being round-arched." The baptismal font itself consists of an actagonal basin with straight vertical sides decorated with a shallow-carved round arch on each side; the chamfer of the underbowl has a thin moulding at the bottom and is minute compared to the massive octagonal shaft, almost as thick as the basin; the font stands on a two-step plinth. Plain wooden cover, flat with metal handle.