Gilston / Gedeleston / Gelston / Godeleston / Godulston

No entry for Gilston found in the Domesday survey. Cox & Harvey (1907) list a baptismal font of the Early English period here. The Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, Hertforshire (1911) reports: "Font: bowl with panelled sides, late 12th-century; stem and base, late 14th-century." The Victoria County History (Hertford, vol. 3, 1912) notes: "Geoffrey de Mandeville, lord of Gilston and founder of the abbey of Walden in Essex, who died in 1144, included the church of Gilston in his foundation charter to that monastery. [...] The church appears to have been rebuilt late in the 13th century, an early 13th-century doorway from the former church, which was probably without aisles, having been re-set in the north wall; the tower is mainly of late 16th-century work, and was probably rebuilt then. The church was thoroughly restored during the 19th century [...] The bowl of the font is of the 12th century; it is hexagonal and on each face are three shallow sunk plain panels; the bowl rests upon a 14th-century stem with moulded cap and base." In Pevsner & Cherry (1977): "Font: Hexagonal, C12, of Purbeck marble, with shallow blank arches." Noted in Leach (1975) as a font made of Purbeck marble, Polygonal I Type (Hexagonal): no details [source given: Pevsner]. Listed and illustrated in the CRSBI [https://www.crsbi.ac.uk/view-item?i=6068] [accessed 20 February 2023]: "Centrally placed under the tower arch is a font with a hexagonal Purbeck bowl with 3 round-headed arches on each face, set on a later moulded hexagonal shaft with a step to the W. Only the bowl is 12thc, and it has a round, lead-lined basin, an iron clamp repair just below the rim at the W, and mortar repairs to the remainder of the rim, obscuring any lock removal marks [...] As in most southern counties with a shortage of local building stone, fonts of paludina limestone (the so-called Purbeck and Sussex marble) were commonly imported into Hertforshire in the 12thc-13thc. The hexagonal form is unusual; generally the earlier ones are square and the later ones octagonal. A date at the end of the 12thc is suggested by RCHME, which dates the stem to the late 14thc."