Sandford St. Martin nr. Chipping Norton / Sanford

There is an entry for Sandford [St Martin] [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SP4226/sandford-st-martin/] [accessed 16 November 2017], but it mentions neither priest nor church in it. The Guide to the Architectural Antiquities in the Neighbourhood of Oxford (1846) reports: "The font is octagon, cup-shaped, on an octagon shaft, the upper part ornamented with zigzags, and some other Norman ornaments". Noted in Sherwood & Pevsner (1974): "Originally Norman and tub-shaped, with incised zigzag decoration. The lower part has been re-cut and is now octagonal." The entry for this parish in the Victoria County History (Oxon., vol. 11, 1983) notes: "In the late 12th century Sandford church was a chapel of Steeple Barton. Its status was disputed in 1217 but confirmed as that of a chapel, although it paid all episcopal and archidiaconal dues as a parish church [...] The 12th-century font with zigzag carving has been roughly shaped to fit a later octagonal base." Listed and illustrated in the CRSBI (2017): "Most of the motifs on the font that occupy the chevron spaces are incomplete. It seems that the font top must have been trimmed, as noted by CRSBI for the arcaded font at All Saints Church, Sutton Courtenay, Berkshire." This baptismal font was originally tub-shaped, the sides decorated with nested chevron all around, the spandrels filled with a variety of motifs and symbols (cross, stars, etc.), but at some point the mid-to-lower part of the basin was re-cut into an octagonal shape, destroying thus not only the original shape of the vessel but also the rest of the ornamentation on it. It is now mounted on an octagonal pedestal base, plain but for a moulding towards the upper end, and a narrow square plinth. The round wooden cover with metal decoration is probably modern.