Merstham / Mearsdethan / Merstan / Merystham / Mestham / Meyrstham

There is an entry for Merstham [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/XX0000/merstham-and-south-merstham/] [accessed 21 October 2015]; it mentions a church in it. Allen (1831) writes: "In the south aisle is a curious font, consisting of a square block of well wrought and highly polished Sussex marble, with a sufficient excavation to dip an infant conveniently. It is lined with lead, and elevated on a pillar of the same stone: at each corner was a small round pillar, but of these only one remains." Described in Brandon (1849) as a baptismal font of the Early English Norman period, "raised on a central stem, surrounded by four small shafts". Brayley (1850) notes: "The font is a large square block of well-wrought Sussex marble, with an excavation sufficiently large for the convenient immersion of an infant. It rests on a central column, rising from a square basement; and formerly, there was a smaller shaft at each corner". In Hussey (1852): "The font is Norm[an], square, of Weald marble." 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. 3, 1911) notes that a church is mentioned in Domesday in this locality, but the font is of a later date: "The font, of Purbeck marble, in good preservation, dates from the end of the 12th century. It has a square body, with a circular basin, and elegant trefoil leaves filling the spandrels on the top. The sides, which overhang, have a shallow round-arched arcade, and rest upon a central drum and four angle-shafts, the whole standing on a moulded base and square moulded plinth. Altogether it is an exceptionally good example of a common type; cf. Beddington, Great Bookham, Frensham, and Mickleham." [NB: the font in the 19th-century Church of All Saints, in South Merstham, is: "The basin of the font is a Tridacna Gigas shell brought from the Philippine Islands by Mr. William Willox", according to the VCH (ibid.)]. Kevin Austen, in his 'The Historical Guide to Merstham' [www.merstham.co.uk], writes: "The Sussex marble font, dating from c1150, piscina and a few stones are all that remains of the old church." This same source describes the font at All Saints', the early 20th-century church in New Merstham (South Merstham): "The basin of the font was a 'Tridacna Gigas', a giant clam shell, brought from the Plilippines" [the latter font not listed in this Index]. Wooden cover, round and flat, with metal locking bar that hooks to a hinge and a staple at opposite angles of the upper surface of the basin. The spandrels on the upper rim surface have foliage motifs. Noted in Leach (1975) as a font made of Purbeck marble: "bowl with panels on each face and trefoil leaves on the top spandrels" [source given: VCH, 19].