Balsall No. 1 / Balshall / Temple Balsall / Temple-Balshall

Bond (1908) : "An inventory of the chapel of church Balshall shows that in 1538 it had 'a ffauntstone of tymber lyned with lede, with a small berr [bere?] of iron over'''. The Victoria County History (Warwick, vol. 4, 1947) notes: "The church of ST. MARY (fn. 28) was built by the Knights Templars c. 1290. After the Suppression in 1540 it fell into decay and became roofless. In 1662 it was reroofed and restored to use by Lady Katherine Leveson and Lady Anne Holbourne, and it served as a chapel for the adjacent almshouses founded by the former in 1677. It became a parish church in 1863. The church was restored in 1849 by Sir Gilbert Scott [...] The font is modern." The VCH entry (ibid.) quotes from the Gentleman's Magazine, 1838 (2), p. 271: "In 1541 there was 'a faunte stone of tymbre lyned wt lede'. In 1[5]38 there was a small octagonal font, 'formed out of a piscina which stood at the south-east corner of the chapel', and also a disused font 'of bowl form, about seven feet in circumference, very boldly and elegantly sculptured with foliage'." The VCH (ibid.) adds: "There is also a small modern church of St. Peter, Balsall Common, built of red brick." [cf. Index entry for church-Balshall No. 2 for a later font restored in this church]