Weddington / Watitune

There is an entry for Weddington [variant spelling] in the Domesday survey [http://domesdaymap.co.uk/place/SP3693/weddington/] [accessed 10 December 2014], but it mentions neither cleric nor church in it. Cox & Harvey (1907) list a baptismal font of the Norman period in this church. The Victoria County History (Warwick, vol. 4, 1947) notes that, other than the font, the earliest part of the fabric of St. James is the north transept, "probably of early-14th-century date"; the font itself, "has an early-12th-century round, slightly tapering bowl. The surface has a slightly sunk arcade with interlacing round heads, and over that a band of shallow diaper ornament and a small round mould to the edge. The stem and base are modern." English Heritage [Listing NGR: SP3596193571] (1947) reports that the "early C12 font bowl has intersecting blind arcading". The font is described and illustrated in the CRSBI (2014) as a baptismal font of the Romanesque period made of red sandstone, a common material in this area around Coventry. The basin is tub-shaped with a roll moulding at the upper rim; right below it is a band of inscribed eight-petal rosettes [NB: this upper part is cracked and damaged especially around the rim, with an iron brace installed to prevent further damage]; the rest of the basin side is covered with an arcade of intersecting round arches resting on columns. The modern cylindrical pedestal base is ornamented with several roll mouildings. The entry for this church by simplysup in Geocaching [www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC2YB3R_church-micro-1936-weddington?guid=97e459d8-c187-4b30-99d7-ef424f5cb6f9] [accessed 10 December 2014] reports: "The font has been dated to the 12th Century and is presumed to have come from an earlier building. A plaque nearby states that the font was restored to the church in 1858. It had been removed when the previous church on the site was enlarged in 1733 (when the majority of the Church was rebuilt in red brick) and evidently 'lost' for a considerable time. The Church was restored in 1881."