Warnham

Noted in Dudley (1836): "In the pavement of the south aisle, the side of an altar tomb, adorned with shields and quatrefoils, and apparently of the time of Edward I, may be discerned: the font is square, and of the same date" [i.e., 1272-1307]. Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Norman period. Harrison (1920) reports a late-Norman, 12th-century font in this church. The Victoria County History (Sussex, vol. 6, pt. 2, 1986) notes: "There was a church at Warnham in the 12th century, as the surviving font indicates. [...] Only the Purbeck marble font survives from the church which existed in the 12th century." The VCH (ibid.) further informs that the original dedication was St. Mary's, but was changed to St. Margaret's in 1835]. Described in Whiteman (1994) as the only remains from the Norman church that belonged to nearby Rusper nunnery: "The 12th-century marble font has a square bowl with shallow arcading".