Renhold / Ronhale / Runhale

No entry for Renhold found in the Domesday survey. The Victoria County History (Bedford, vol.3, 1912) notes: "The original grant of the advowson of the church of All Saints by Simon de Beauchamp [...] was confirmed by William de Beauchamp (c. 1260) to the Prior and convent of Newnham [...] The nave arcade and the north aisle date from the 14th century; the font is much older, of about the middle of the 12th century, and very probably part of the nave may be older than the 14th century". Described in the parish web site: "The 12th century font is drum shaped with a band of acanthus leaves around the middle of its east face and it is lined with lead. The original lid was presumably lost during the Puritant period. It is almost certainly the only part of the Church which existed when Geoffrey de Ranhal was Vicar in 1229". This same source informs that during the 1862-1863 renovations "the font was placed by the south door", without a mention of its earlier location. Noted in Pevsner (1968): "Font. Norman, drum-shaped, with two palmettes being the begining of an ornamental band, never continued." The CRSBI (2015) notes: "The font is the only feature with 12thc. sculpture. [...] Located in the SW of the nave. The round, tub-shaped bowl sits on a chamfered base above a double-stepped plinth, the lower step chamfered. The bowl is carved with an incomplete row of palmettes. Two five-lobed palmettes, fluted with scalloped edges, lie within a fine encircling roll. To their left only this roll is defined. The bowl, which is lead-lined, has at some time been broken almost in half, and is now repaired with mortar."