Winterborne St. Martin / Winterbourne St. Martin / Wintreburne / Wintrebvrne / Martinstown

There is an entry for Martinstown [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SY6488/martinstown/] [accessed 14 February 2023]; it mentions neither cleric nor church in it]. The 3rd ed. of Hutchins (1973 c1961-1874) notes: "The font is Norman, of Purbeck marble, with a square bowl and base; the former has a shallow arcade." Barnes (1891) writes: "The font, of Purbeck marble, is probably Saxon" [NB: Barnes is overly generous in assigning an undeserved Saxon pedigree to several of the Dorset fonts]. Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) and in Mee (1939) as a baptismal font of the Norman period. Noted in Long (1923) as a font belonging possibly to the pre-Conquest period. Dru Drury (1949) as a square basin of Purbeck marble from the 12th century. The RCHM (1970) dates the Purbeck marble basin font to the late 12th century and the oak cover to the late 15th century. In Newman & Pevsner (1972): "Font. Square, C12, of Purbeck marble, with five flat blank arches each side". . In The Dorset Historic Churches Trust [http://dorsethistoricchurchestrust.co.uk/martinstown.htm], with date ca. 1125. Described and illustrated in Gerald Duke's 'The Ancient Feudal Manor and Lordship of Winterborne St. Martin (Dorsetshire)' (p. 3): "The Norman font, thought to date from about 1125, is of Purbeck marble with decoration of lead arcading" [source: www.martinstown.co.uk]. The font consists of a square basin with vertical sides decorated with a blind shallow arcade of round arches, raised on a columnar base of a central shaft and four slender colonnettes, all on a square lower base and/or plinth. The same source informs that the present location of the font, the north aisle is "thought to have been the site of the chantry". Noted in Leach (1975) as a font made of Purbeck marble; no details [source given: Dr. G. Dru Drury].