Benson / Bensington / Besintone

There are three entries for this Benson [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SU6191/benson/] [accessed 27 June 2019] none of which mentions cleric or church in it. The Guide to the Architectural Antiquities in the Neighbourhood of Oxford (1846) notes: "The font is plain, round, Early English". Drawing of a font in the Harvey Pridham Drawings of English Fonts (MS 56). [Folder Number, Item Description]. University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries. Special Collections Dept., done by Harvey Pridham on 13 April 1887 accompanied by the following description: "Circular; Position, at W. End of South aisle - immediately on left entering by S. Porch. The lower half of the double-splayed pedestal is modern - as far up as top of 1st splay. Circular bowl same rake inside as out. 3 1/2 margin. 15" deep - lead lining of bowl is also turned over top chamfer outside. Modern cover. [illegible] Two steps at base are square. All rest circular." Described in 'Church notes...' (1887) in the context of some "notes [that] were taken between 1835 and 1840": "The font circular , large, plain, and probably Norman." Noted in Sherwood & Pevsner (1974): "Font. Tub-shaped, C13, with a C17 cover." The entry for this parish in the Victoria County History (Oxford, vol. 18, 2016) notes: "Benson probably had an important pre-Conquest church, but in the 12th century the benefice was given to Dorchester abbey and became an impoverished chapelry and (later) perpetual curacy, albeit with full parochial rights [...] circumstantial evidence points to a pre-Conquest church of above average status, which possessed church scot (fn. 650) and exercised parochial rights over Benson's royal territory. [...] Despite its probable pre-Conquest origins, the present Benson church is of no great size or quality, comprising a west tower rebuilt in the 18th century, a heavily remodelled aisled and clerestoreyed nave, and a chancel and adjoining vestry rebuilt in 1861–2. [...] The plain tub font is 12th- or 13th-century [...] The interior was reordered in 1971–8 [...] the font was moved from the south door to the north aisle's east end, in front of a new timber screen.