Tilney All Saints No. 2 / Tilingetuna / Tilinghetuna

There are two entries for Tilney in the Domesday survey under the variant spellings of "Tilingetuna" and "Tilinghetuna", transcribed and translated in Blomefield (1805-1810), neither of which mentions church or cleric in it. Blomefield (ibid.) describes the church here: "The Church of Tilney is dedicated to all the Saints, and is a large building, consisting of a nave, north and south isle, with a chancel covered with lead; at the west end stands a square tower, with pinnacles, and - - bells therein; on the tower, a spire of free-stone", and mentions the font in passing: "Robert Howsson, vicar, wills to be buried in the place, where the font formerly stood, in the church of All-Saints, Tilney", indicating a move of the font elsewhere in the church. This Robert Howsson appears in the list of vicars: Robert Housson, or Howysson, occurs vicar 1442, and 1430", list that starts with the first one recorded in 1372, the vicarage having been settled in 1359 when "Edward III. in his 32d year, granted a patent to appropriate it to Pembroke-Hall, in Cambridge," Previously it had been a rectorate, the first recorded rector being "Godfrey de Acre occurs rector in the 22d of Edward I" [i.e., 1294], this being the earliest date recorded in relation to the church at Tilney. Font described and illustrated in Bond (1908) as one of several pseudo-Gothic fonts [cf. Darley Dale No. 2]. Bond (ibid.) curses thus the makers of these fonts: "for such work [...] the mason would have been put in the stocks by any Christian parish in the fifteenth century", but he saves hanging for those responsible for the fonts at Bottesford, Tuxford and Wensley. Noted in Cautley (1949) as a "quaintly inscribed font" of the 17th century. Pevsner & Wilson (1999) write: "Fonts. One with an octagonal Perp[endicular] bowl. The other also octagonal and at first Perp-looking, but with four inscriptions on the bowl which show that at least the bowl is of the C17." The font is actually a rather 'subdued' one: octagonal with large roses on alternated basin panels and four inscriptions on the other four; one is an inscription with a quote from Matthew 28:19; another with a quote from Acts, 8:36; another from Genesis, 17 (?); [the fourth one not available] the chamfer is also ornamented with roses; the pedestal base is octagonal ornamented with two pairs of trefoil arches per side (two up, two down); a similarly shaped lower base is also ornamented with roses. [NB: it is not clear whether or not this is the same font that appears in Cotman (1838) in his illustration of the tower of Tilney All Saints' -- to be resolved]