Yarnton No. 2 / Erdington / Eyrynten / Harbintone / Hardintone / Yadington

There are two entries for Yarnton [variable spellings] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SP4711/yarnton/] [accessed 6 December 2017], neither of which mentions priest of church in it. The Guide to the Architectural Antiquities in the Neighbourhood of Oxford (1846) reports: "In the south aisle is the Perpendicular font, now in use, with a modern foot; it is said to have come from St. Michael's church, Oxford, and was presented by Mr. Alderman Fletcher". Lambert (1945) confirms the origin: "The fifteenth century font now in use at Yarnton was acquired by William Fletcher from the churchwardens of St. Michael's, Oxford. Its older predecessor remains in the church." In Sherwood & Pevsner (1974): "of c.1400, octagonal, with flowers, quatrefoils, and animals between blank arches. Formerly at St. Michael's, Oxford". The Victoria County History, Oxfordshire (Oxford, vol. 12, 1990) confirms the source and donor: "Alderman William Fletcher [...] also gave a 15th-century font formerly in St. Michael's church, Oxford". The font consists of an octagonal basin the sides of which are decorated with two parallel register: the upper one has rectangular panels that have thin trefoil arches on the sides framing a larger motif (a dragon facing right, a swan facing left, a grotesque head facing forward, etc.) in them, but appears to have been trimmed at the upper rim; the lower register has a freeze of Tudor roses all around; the stem of the base is octagonal and has trefoil panels or arches on the sides; the splaying lower base is moulded. The round wooden font cover is flat and plain, with a knob handle. [cf. Index entry for Yarnton No. 1 for the old Norman recovered from a nearby farm-yard -- cf. Index entry for Oxford No. 6 for a font of about the same period in that church]