Chelsham / Celesham / Chelesham / Chellesham

There are two entries for Chelsham [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://opendomesday.org/place/TQ3759/chelsham/] [accessed 20 October 2015], one of which mentions a church in it. Allen (1831) writes: "The font, at the west end of the church, appears to be very ancient, standing on three steps; it is of square Sussex marble, on a round pillar, supported at each corner by a small column ." Described in Brayley (1850): "At the west end of the church is an ancient square font of Sussex marble, raised on three steps, and white-washed. It rests upon a central round pillar; four smaller pillars at the corners having cut away." Listed in Cox & Harvey (1907) as a baptismal font of the Early English period. The Victoria County History (Surrey, vol. 4, 1912) reports "slight traces of an earlier church, belonging to the close of the 12th century", but "The font is a good example of mid-13th-century date. It has a plain square bowl of Bethersden marble, blue-grey in colour, the sides not vertical but inclining outwards as they go up, the lower part moulded and having engaged capitals worked in it for the four-angle shafts. The shafts, which are modern, stand upon a moulded marble base." The Diocese of Southwark webste [http://www.southwark.anglican.org/parishes/303k2] [accessed 11 August 2010] entry ofr this church notes: "The font dates from the 13th century and was restored, that is, the shafts were replaced, in the 19th century." [NB: i.e., between 1850 and 1912 -- we have no information on the font from the earlier church]