Affpuddle / Affapidele

There is an entry for Affpuddle [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SY8093/affpuddle/] [accessed 10 February 2023]; it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Noted in the Handbook for travellers… (1869): "The font is Norman." Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907), in Long (1923), Mee (1939) and in Betjeman (1958) as a baptismal font of the Norman period. [NB: the entry in Newman & Pevsner (1972): "Font. Norman, round, with tapering sides. Intersecting arches", refers obviously to the font from Turners Puddle, now in this church]. In Jenkins (2000), who describes it thus: "a battered Norman font, like a squashed truckle of cheese." [NB: the church itself dates to the 13th century, so the font is probably from an earlier church]. The font is described and illustrated in Gerald Duke's web page on Dorset fonts [www.martinstown.co.uk/WEBSITE/VILLAGE/FONT/affpuddle.htm]. Noted in Leach (1975) as a font with a re-cut basin made of Purbeck marble [gives source: Dr. G. Dru Drury]. The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SY8053493711] notes: "Parish Church. C13 origin, enlarged C15 and restored C19 [...] C13 font, now in north aisle."