Westcott Barton / Barton Westcott / Bertone / Westcot Barton / Westcote Barton

There is an entry for [Westcott] Barton [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SP4225/westcott-barton/] [accessed 15 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 plain round, on a square base, probably Norman, but of no marked character". Soon therefater, however, the font was replaced, as reported in the Victoria County History (Oxford, vol. 11, 1983): the church "was restored in 1855 and 1856, under the direction of G. E. Street. A western gallery, presumably erected in the 18th century, was removed, as were the 'most inconsistent' pews, and the roofs were replaced. A new font was placed at the west end of the church". There is an account of the church and its furnishings written by the Rev. Jenner Marshall, lord of the manor, and published in 1870, which makes reference to the old font just prior to the mid-19th century restoration of the building: "The Church had fallen like so many other country churches into a very unbeseeming state [...] the font had been displaced agains the west pier of the arch which divide the nave from the aisle, and was found, when the repairs occasioned its removal, to have had laid upside down for its pediment the head stone of a coffin of the thirteenth century"; Marshall (ibid.) then mentions E. Street, the diocesan architect, and Messrs. Franklin of Deddington, the designated builders, and notes part of the plans for the restoration, among which, "the Norman font remounted re-adorned and placed immediately on the left of the door of entrance". Not mentioned in Sherwood & Pevsner (1974) [NB: we have no information on the whereabouts of the old font]