Stifford / North Stifford

There are three entries for Stifford in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TQ6080/stifford/] [accessed 14 May 2018], one of which, in the lordship of Aelfric in 1066, reports a church and "0.25 church lands" in it. Illustrated with an engraving by J. Basire in Repton (1812), who writes that this font was "probably executed from about the reign of King John [1199+] or Henry the Third" [1216+]. Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Early English period [NB: Repton and C&H give the location simply as "Stifford"]. There is a "Black and white print: Font in Stifford Church Proof drawing for Medieval Architecture in Essex by Ernest Godman" in the Essex Record Office, Mint Binder Stifford (ref.: I/Mb 335/1/5) [http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk/result_details.asp?DocID=314259] [accessed 21 September 2010] [NB: Ernest Godman was an officer in the Committee for the Survey of the Memorials of Greater London at the end of the 19th century, and prepared many drawings of London itself and other localities]. Noted in the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (Essex, 1916-1923): "Font: square bowl with slightly tapering sides, carried on central stem of three grouped shafts with plain capital and base; four round corner-columns with moulded capitals and bases, 13th-century, partly recut." The font is raised on a square plinth or lower base; the inner well of the basin is round. In the Victoria County History (Essex, vol. 8, 1983). In Bettley & Pevsner (2007): "Font. Plain square bowl, C13, with central pedestal of three grouped shafts, and four corner columns." The Parish web site [www.northstifford.co.uk] notes: "The font is early English, thirteen century [...] There are remains of old lid fastenings in the rim and it has been much repaired." Noted and illustrated in the CRSBI (2018): "To the W of the central pier of the S nave arcade. It consists of a plain tapered square bowl on four shafts at the angles and a cluster of shafts in the centre. The corner shafts stand of curious double torus bases, and the central shaft on a drum. All these bases are on a square slab of stone that stands on a step extending westward for the celebrant. The bowl is lead lined, with an inserted repair at the NW angle. [...] Pevsner (1954) ignores the font, and RCHME, Bettley and VCH all date it to the 13thc. It could be earlier, at least in part, and is included for that reason."