Bulkworthy / Buchesworde / Buckworthy

There is an entry for Bulkworthy [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SS3914/bulkworthy/] [accessed 8 September 2024] but it mentions neither priest nor church in it. Cox & Harvey (1907: 195) mention the font at Buckworthy [sic] as being ornamented with cable moulding motif [NB: C&H must have meant 'Bulkworthy', a village located in an area of Devon with two other listed fonts of similar characteristics: West Putford and Abbot's Bickington [cf. Index entries], perhaps made by the same artist, as suggested in Clarke (1915); this author further informs that "In the case of Bulkworthy it is clear to the most cursory glance that the font has been altered. The bowl looks as though it had originally been part of a girdled tub like West Putford; it has nearly the same dimensions, and though the contour has been altered in a futile attempt to cut it to a polygon the resemblance is evident. Again, as at West Putford the bowl is not, and never was, a true circle. It stands on a modern shaft, which however is composed of the same stone, so perhaps it is the original lower block, cut into a shaft. At the foot of the bowl is a cable of uneven width, varying from 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches; it twists the reverse way from that of West Putford, but resembles it in that on the north side is a strip of plain stone below the cable. The same feature has just been noted at Abbot's Bickington; and I have only observed it in these three fonts.. It seems sufficient grounds to assign them all to the same hand. The rim of the Bulkworthy bowl is axe-dressed; it is broken on the north and south sides. The inside is rough, and the lead lining has disappeared. The shaft is square with the corners chamfered off, and has a base and plinth both following the same plan. It stands on a platform inlaid with coloured tiles." Stabb (1908) writes: "There is not much of interest in the church except the font and the pulpit. The former is circular with cable moulding." Listed and illustrated in CRSBI [https://www.crsbi.ac.uk/view-item?i=7137] [accessed 8 September 2024]: "Positioned in the nave just inside the S doorway. Supported by a modern octagonal plinth, the stepped base and shaft are square and chamfered with heavy tooling marks, mainly diagonal. The bowl, originally round, has been modified, reflecting the chamfers on stem and base, so that it is now roughly octagonal in form. The lower part of the bowl is carved with a heavy cable. The bowl is damaged on N and S rims, probably from font cover fixings. There is a repair insert on the N. The font is unlined."