Steyning / Staninges

There are two entries for this Steyning in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/TQ1711/steyning/] [accessed 16 March 2024] Font noted in Walker (1907). Harrison (1920) writes: "Font, late Nor[man] on 14th c. base." Harrison (ibid.) further remarks: "This fine church is a splendid specimen of late Nor[man] work, approaching Tr[ansitional]-Nor[man]. It stands on the site of an older Saxon edifice, in which Ethelwulf (father of Alfred the Great) and St. Cuthman are said to have been buried." Harrison (ibid.) also comments: "The rich mouldings and finely carved capitals, some of Saracenic character (cf. Icklesham), have a very pleasing effect ; these are scallop ; saw-tooth ; chevron ; cable ; ferns ; palm-leaves, etc." Listed in Tyrrell-Green (1928) as a Norman font decorated with a zigzag or chevron motif on the basin. Noted in Drummond-Roberts (1935). The Victoria County History (Sussex, vol. 6, pt. 1, 1980) notes: "A church at Steyning is said to have been founded by St. Cuthman, [...] who perhaps flourished in the late 8th or early 9th century. The evidence is late and not completely trustworthy, [...] but is supported by 11th- and 12th-century references to 'St. Cuthman's parish' and 'St. Cuthman's port' in Steyning. [...] The church was evidently a minster church, perhaps originally serving Steyning hundred. [...] Nothing remains of the pre-Conquest church of wood which St. Cuthman is said to have built [...] The church was rebuilt by Fécamp abbey on a cruciform plan between the late 11th century and the mid 12th [...] The font is Norman, comprising a square bowl on a round base with four corner columns." Described in Whiteman (1994): "The square Norman font, carved with a V-shaped pattern, is of Purbeck marble". Described and illustrated in the CRSBI (2008), which gives the font at New Shoreham as cognate. Noted and illustrated in Ye Olde Sussex Pages' web site [http://yosp.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=267&Itemid=603&lang=en] [accessed 24 October 2012]: "The font is 12th century but sits on a 14th century base". The font consists of a shallow square basin with large zig-zag ornamentation around its sides; it is mounted on a broad central column and four detached corner colonnettes, the latter ornamented with capitals and bases.