Beddington / Beddingtone / Beddintone / Bedington / Bedintune

There are two entries for this Beddington [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TQ3065/beddington/] [accessed 16 March 2016], one of which reports a church in it. There is an 1810 engraving by James Sargant Storer from a watercolour by Samuel Prout (1783-1852), published in the 'Antiquarian and Topographical Cabinet' (issue no. 39), that shows a font consisting of a quadrangular basin decorated with a blind arcade of six round arches on each of the two visible sides; the inner well is round; raised on a broad central shaft and four slender colonnettes, all of which with moulded bases; short quadrangular lower base; the quadrangular plinth is wider and taller than the lower base. Described in Hassell (1817): "The font is of an early date, large and square, supported by four pillars." Noted in Allen (1831): "the font, which is of an early date, is large and square, and supported by four pillars." Brayley (1850) notes that Domesday reports a church in ''Beddingtone', "but no part of the present structure can be referred to the remote era of that record"; Brayley (ibid.) further notes a font beneath the organ-gallery, "an ancient dipping font, of a square form, but with a circular basin: it is supported by a central, and four smaller columns, standing on a low plinth." Described in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a square-bowled baptismal font of the Norman period made of dark Petworth marble from Sussex. The Victoria County History (Surrey, vol. 4, 1912) notes: "The advowson of the church of Beddington was granted in 1159 by Sibyl de Wateville and Ingelram de Funteneys to the abbey of Bermondsey [...] The arches of the present nave arcades, which are the earliest structural features now surviving, date from the middle of the 13th century. [...] The font is of early 13th-century date. It is of unpolished Purbeck marble and has a square bowl, the sides of which are panelled with semicircular headed panels. The bowl is supported by a central circular stem, with four small shafts at the angles. These are without capitals, but have bases, with leaf spurs, continuously moulded with the base of the central stem, to which they are attached. The present bowl-cover appears to be of early 17th-century date. It is circular and formed of small pieces of wood radiating from the centre, which is ornamented with a lion's head holding a ring in its mouth." Noted in Leach (1975) as a font made of Purbeck marble: "bowl with six panels on each face; there are carved leaves on the corners of the base" [source given: Professor E.M. Jope].