Chipstead / Chepstede / Chepstid / Chipstede / Chypstede / Tepestede

There are two entries for Chipstead [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TQ2756/chipstead/] [accessed 14 December 2015], neither of which mentions cleric or church in it. A font in the church here is described and illustrated in Brayley (1850): "The font near the entrance is a large octagonal basin for immersion with sides ornamentally sculptured and standing on a short thick column." An illustration in Brayley (ibid.) shows the font through the south porch, with a small pyramidal wooden cover. In Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the 14th century, the Decorated period; it "has a large octagonal bowl , with a double niche on each face; it stands on a circular pilar." The Victoria County History (Surrey, vol. 3, 1911) notes: "The west wall of the nave, from the evidence of a doorway formerly existing here, and shown by Manning and Bray (drawing dated 1794), appears to be in part of 12th-century date, and the north doorway of the nave, now reset in the north aisle, is work of c. 1180. [...] The font is of 14th-century date and has a large octagonal bowl, each side having a shallow sunk panel filled with tracery patterns, all different. It stands on a circular stem with moulded base." The VCH entry for Banste[a]d gives Chipstead as a cognate font. The Surrey History Centre database nootes an entry in its catalogue of collections [www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk/GetRecord/SHILL_1157] [accessed 13 August 2010] for a ca. 1900 photograph of this font in the Victoria History of the County of Surrey. With the legend: "The font in St Margaret's Church, Chipstead. Base dates from 1827"