Cuddesdon / Cuiddesden / Cuddesden

The font in this church is reported in a letter to the editor of The Gentleman's Magazine (issue of March 1821: 201): "The font is of a cylindrical figure, large size and quite plain." Described in the Guide to the Architectural Antiquities in the Neighbourhood of Oxford (1846): "The Font, which is early, is plain, round, and placed on a modern pedestal, to the west of the south door, supposed to be its original position" [NB: if the description in The Gentleman's Magazine [supra] was accurate, it may mean that the new base was installed between March 1821 and 1846]. Noted in Kelly's Oxford Directory of 1911 [www.historicaldirectories.org/hd/d.asp] [accessed 30 June 2007]: "the font is plain and round, on a modern base". The Victoria County History (Oxford, 5, 1957) notes: "The original church must have been built before 1117, when Abbot Faritius, who gave it to Abingdon Abbey, died. [...] It was rebuilt on a cruciform plan about 1180." The VCH entry for this parish (ibid.) does not mention a font in it, although its plan of the church interior locates the font on the south side of the nave, by the south aisle arcade, opposite the south door. Sherwood & Pevsner (1974) remark that the church was built ca. 1180, but do not mention a font in the corresponding entry.