Mickleham / Micelham / Micheham / Michelham / Micleham / Mikeleham / Mikelham / Mykeleham / Mykelham

There are two entries for Mickleham [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TQ1653/mickleham/] [accessed 22 May 2015], one of which, in the tenancy of Bishop Odo of Bayeux, mentions a church in it. A font here is noted and illustrated in Robinson (1824): "The font is of high antiquity [...]; the basin formed of one stone, and used originally for immersion, with a pipe to allow the holy water to pass away into the earth, was all that appeared when the alterations to the church were commenced, the lower part or stem being built up with rubble to the square of the upper diameter, and coated with plaster and whitewash. Upon clearing away the rubbish, the font was found to be in a very perishable state, and the four cylinders which had supported it wanting; their places indicated, however, by indentations upon the lower stone base. These have been restored a little in the style of the font at Winchester Cathedral and that at Castle Rising in Norfolk." In Robinson's interior plan, the font appears located towards the west end of the nave, on the south bank of benches. Brayley (1850) notes two spellings for this place: 'Michelham' and 'Micleham' and the mention of a church in it in Domesday (1086); Brayley remarks on the Anglo-Norman architecture of the church, and refers to a major renovation of its interior in 1822-1823 ["a somewhat reprehensible deviation was made in respect to its original forms; namely, by substituting square piers for the cylindrical shafts, or columns, by which the arches were sustained", which made the whole "incongruous and offensive to the practised eye"], and a later one ca. 1842 that added a north aisle to the nave. Brayley (ibid.) gives also information on the font: "On the right, at the entrance to the nave from the organ-gallery, is an ancient Font, of Sussex marble, supported by a central column and four small shafts. The latter were restored in 1823; prior to which, all the lower part had been built up with rubble, and coated with plaster and whitewash. The upper stone, which is square, is surrounded by slight indentations: the bason is circular, and designed for immersions ." 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: "A church at Mickleham is mentioned in the Domesday Survey. (fn. 108) At the time of the taxation of Pope Nicholas it was assessed at £18 13s. 4d. [...] The oldest part of the building is the west tower, dating from c. 1140 [...] The font is of 13th-century date, and has a shallow square bowl with tapering sides ornamented with arcades in low-relief, and standing on a central and four angle shafts with moulded bases." The basin is square, with tapering sides decorated with six irregular round arches on each side; it is mounted on a platform supported by a broad central shaft and four angle colonnettes; the supports appear modern, but the lower base looks original. The wooden cover is square and appears old. Noted in Leach (1975) as a font made of Purbeck marble: "bowl with five irregular panels on each face" [NB: some of the panels are indeed irregular but there are six panels on each face] [source given: Professor E.M. Jope].