Worplesdon / Warplesdon / Werpesdune / Werplesden / Werplesdone

There is an entry for Worplesdon [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/SU9753/worplesdon/] [accessed 18 December 2015]; it mentions a church in it. Allen (1831) reports: "The font, a large square basin of Sussex marble, has small columns at the angles." Described in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a square-bowled baptismal font of the Norman period made of dark Petworth marble from Sussex [C&H have "Warplesdon"]. The Victoria County History (Surrey, vol. 3, 1911) notes: "The early history of Worplesdon Church is somewhat obscure. There was a church in Worplesdon at the time of the Domesday Survey, [...] but the advowson does not seem to be mentioned before 1291 [...] The whole church has been much over-restored, and in consequence it is now almost impossible to assign a date for the oldest part of the church. [...] The font is of marble and of 18th-century date with a very graceful outline. The 18th-century notes referred to above, however, contain a sketch of a square font on angle shafts with an arcade on the bowl of pointed arches, apparently of 13th-century date." [NB: a December 2002 communication from Reverend Andrew W. Bryant, rector of St. Mary's, informs that this church "was once the home to a beautiful Norman font but sadly our Victorian ancestors felt it could be bettered and replaced it with a marble font borrowed from the chapel at Eton College which has a long standing historic link with our parish. There is a sketch of the font in the church but its present whereabouts are unknown. Local folklore suggests that it was taken by the then churchwarden to his farm in Wood Street Village which forms the southern part of the parish for use as a drinking trough but it has never been located. Another story says it was dropped in the pond at Pitch Place Green (to the East of the parish) in which case it has been sunk without trace as that pond has been filled in." [e-mail of 2 December 2002]. -- The web site of the Heritage Open Days & Guildford Society [www.heritageopendays.org/ed/surrey/guildford.html] informs that there is a font in this church now [August 2004] and that this font and the pulpit are from Eton College [the font could be of the 17th-century but we have no corroboration of the date at present].