Pipe Aston / Aston / Hesintune

There is an entry for this Aston [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [https://opendomesday.org/place/SO4671/aston/] [accessed 9 January 2019] but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. There is a report of a 11 August 1897 excursion by members of the Cambrian Archaeological Association in Archaeologia Cambrensis (vol. XV, 5th ser., 1898, p. 183-184) that included a visit to the Pipe Aston church; it notes: "Inside Pipe Aston Church is preserved a stone vessel Sculptured with dragons of Norman date. Some discussion took place amongst the members as to whether it was a font, or a holy-water vessel, or what"; the reporter goes on to comment on the Agnus Dei, bull and griffin on the north portal tympanum: "The Agnus Dei is shown within а circular jewelled medallion, supported by the winged bull of St. Luke and а grifiin. Mr. Romilly Allen pointed out that the confusion or association of the grifñn with the symbols of the four Evangelists was to be found in Byzantine art, as in the mosaic decoration of the marble parapet in the church of St. Lucia (Gaeta circa A.D. 1000), and that another instance occurred on the font in Lincoln Cathedral." The entry for this church in Historic England [Listing NGR: SO4612471798] notes: "Parish church. C12, partly rebuilt and altered in C13, restored in 1879 and vestry added in 1948. [...] the north doorway. This is C12 and has plain jambs with chamfered imposts enriched with dragonesque and foliated detail. The round arch has chevron mouldings and encloses a carved tympanum. This has a central circle enclosing an Agnus Dei held by the eagle of St John and the winged bull of St Luke and is surrounded by an outer band carved with four beasts, a bird and foliage. [...] The font is made from a C12 stone in the form of a truncated cone, hollowed out on the base and carved with a dragon, a beast and scrolled foliage." The entry for this church in the CRSBI (2019) notes: "Romanesque features recorded here are the two nave doorways and the font [...] A small inverted truncated cone, like a plant pot, hollowed out for use as a font and set on a modern cylindrical shaft, on a chamfered cylindrical drum base with a square step. It is carved in relief with a scene of a winged dragon with a spiralling tail chasing a quadruped that turns its head back towards its pursuer, all among tangled foliage. The scene only works when inverted. The bowl is unlined. [...] The carver of the doorway and font, named the Aston Master by George Zarnecki, played a crucial role in the formation of the Herefordshire School of sculpture, and work comparable with this can be easily recognised at Shobdon, Kilpeck, Ribbesford (Worcestershire) and Stottesdon (Salop). Thurlby has suggested that the Aston Master was trained at Hereford Cathedral. The pecking bird motif is a recurrent feature of that workshop. The font was clearly adapted to that use from another where it was inverted, and the suggestion of a cross foot, made by Thurlby and followed by Brooks, is the likeliest. Thurlby suggests that the relative dating of Shobdon and Aston is moot, implying similar dates in the early 1130s for both."