Sherborne St. John / Schyreburne / Shirebourne Decani / Shireburn St. John / Shireburna / Sireburne

There is an entry for Sherborne [St John] [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SU6255/sherborne-st-john/] [accessed 8 August 2018]; it reports "1 church. 0.5 church lands" in it. Cox & Harvey (1907) list a baptismal font of the Norman period here. Described in 'Hampshire Treasures', vol. 2 (Basingstoke and Deane), p. 278, as a baptismal font from ca. 1150. The Victoria County History (Hampshire, vol. 4, 2011) notes: "At the time of the Domesday Survey a church with half a hide belonged to the manor. [...] A church seems to have been built here about the year 1150 [...] but was almost wholly rebuilt in 1837 [...] and in 1884 a thorough restoration was undertaken [...] The font at the south-west of the nave is a 12th-century one of Purbeck marble; the bowl is square with sloping sides, which are panelled with shallow round-headed flutes; the stem is round and is flanked by four angle shafts with very rough capitals and bases. Its cover is pyramidal and in part probably of early 16th-century date, with a modern finial." The VCH (ibid.) also notes two other objects of interest to us: "Two stones are set in the south wall, one east of the door being part of a holy water stone, the other having a pointed arch on a curved face and looking like part of a font." The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SU6271556115] reports: "The font is original, having a square bowl on a circular shaft and 4 corner shafts, with a C17 cover." Noted in Leach (1975) as a font made of Purbeck marble [no details] [source given: VCH, 4, 1911].