Doncaster / Donecastre

There are three entries for Doncaster [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SE5703/doncaster/] [accessed 6 November 2018], one of which reports a priest and a church in it. Gough (1792) describes the font here as "square, on four round pillars under each side." Noted in Langdale (1822): The chief relic […] is a Saxon font, still used for the purpose of baptism" [NB: Doncaster appears in the West Riding in Langdale]. Hunter (1974 c1828) questions Langdale's attribution of antiquity, as does Lewis' Dictionary of 1831: "In the interior is an ancient font, though probably not of such remote antiquity as the date, 1061, upon it implies" [cf. Buckler's watercolour noted below]. The British Library Online Gallery [www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/kinggeorge/a/003ktop00000044u028b0000.html] [accessed 30 October 2008] quotes from Langdale's 1882 Topographical Dictionary of Yorkshire: "The Church is a very ancient structure, and was given to the abbey of St. Mary's, York; the chief relic contained in it is a Saxon font, still used for the purpose of baptism", and adds: "St George's was the medieval parish church of Doncaster and was at the centre of the town. The original church was mostly destroyed by fire in 1853 and rebuilt by Sir Gilbert Scott." The BL entry is accompanied by a reproduction of a 1802 watercolour by John Buckler (ibid.) entitled 'Ancient font in Doncaster Church, Yorkshire', but the font is an octagonal one, not the square one reported in Gough [cf. supra]. Glynne's visit to this church around 1827 recorded: "The font is of octagonal form, upon a pedestal of four clustered shafts", a description that matches Buckler's painting. Buckler's image, however, shows on one of the sides of the octagonal basin a rectangle with the date 1067 [or 1601, cf. Lewis' comment above] in it. The on-line information site of The Minster Church of St. George, Doncaster [http://www.doncasterminster.co.uk/doncaster-minster-history-and-heritage/doncaster-minster-history-and-heritage.asp] [accessed 30 October 2008] notes that the Forman Chapel is now used as baptistery: "In the centre of the chapel stands the massive Font carved out of a single piece of serpentine", and has a partial illustration of the font basin; it does not match any of the other fonts mentioned above. There is an archaeological survey issued in April 2007 by the Archaeological Services WYAS [http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/Images/Archaeological%20Desk%20Based%20Assessment_tcm2-49529.pdf] [accessed 30 October 2008] for the Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council, which states: "Thomas Langdale recorded that the medieval St George's Church contained a 'Saxon' font in the early 19th century, although Joseph Hunter, writing around the same time, said that the font had 'nothing in it for to bespeak so high an antiquity (41; Langdale 1822; Hunter 1828, 37)". The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SE5741703561 ] notes: "Parish church. 1854-8 by Sir George Gilbert Scott [...] large polished granite font with circular bowl on colonnetted stem", the latter from the GG Scott re-building as well. Harman & Pevsner (2017) describe the font here as a "Huge serpentine bowl on four marble shafts".