Bythorn / Bierne / Bithorne / Byerne / Bytherne / Bythorne

In Hunts (1851) and in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Norman period [cf. VCH infra]. The Victoria County History (Huntingdon, vol. 3, 1936) notes: "The church is not mentioned in the Domesday Survey (1086), but there was evidently a stone church on the site in the 12th century, some of the stones of which are built into the existing walls [...] The church was largely rebuilt in 1870 and the chancel much restored in 1874. Some repairs were done to the tower and the west end of the south aisle in 1907. [...] The 16th-century font has a plain octagonal bowl with a chamfered lower edge, resting on an octagonal stem with a chamfered base. [...] The Eccles. and Archit. Topog. of Engl. (J. H. Parker), pt. v, Hunts, 1851, describes the font as 'Norman, on legs,' but this must be a mistake. [NB: the other possibility is that the basin may have been re-cut since; as a matter of fact it is quite irregular and the narrow sides could be the chamfered angles of a formerly-square basin (?) -- we have no information on the font of the original church here].